Electrical Stimulation
Dreams in which the sleeper knows they are dreaming and has some measure of control as to how the events pan out have been stimulated electrically, according to a new paper. Lucid dreaming is the somewhat misleading name given to dreams where the dreamer is aware that they are in fact dreaming. They are not necessarily any clearer than other dreams, but the dreamer can often consciously control the course of the dream, making for a more intelligible experience . References to what may be lucid dreaming go back more than 3000 years but the name originated in the late 19th Century. For almost a century the topic was treated with great suspicion. However, in the early 1980s PhD student Stephen Laberge had people who claimed to be able to lucidly dream move their eyes in a pre-agreed fashion while undergoing REM sleep , proving the phenomenon was real. Since then there has been much enthusiasm from those who do not lu...