pSYcr>^>  > 
tions  and  signal  to  the  laborat^^^VteCk<fiQBJ|el(««®ft  200AM 
to  dream  research:  Lucid  dreamers,  he  proposed. 
could  cany  out  diverse  dream  experiments  marking  the  exact  time  of  particular  dream 
events,  allowing  the  derivation  of  precise  psychophysiological  correlations  and  ihe 
methodical  testing  of  hypotheses.  (LaBerge,  Nagel,  Dement,  &   Zarcone,  1981  D 
727)  
’  H 
This  strategy  has  been  put  into  practice  by  the  Stanford  group  in  a   number  of 
studies  summarized  by  LaBerge  (1985a).  r 
LaBerge  first  of  all  pointed  out  that  the  data  reported  in  LaBerge,  Nagel 
Dement,  and  Zarcone  (1981)  and  LaBerge,  Nagel,  Taylor,  Dement,  and  Zarcone 
(1981)  indicate  that  there  is  a   very  direct  and  reliable  relationship  between  gaze 
shifts  reported  in  lucid  dreams  and  the  direction  of  polygraphically  recorded  eye 
movements.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  results  obtained  for  lucid  dreams  (see  also 
Dane,  1984;  Fenwick  era/..  1984;  Heame,  1978;  Ogilvie,  e/a/.,  1982)  are  much 
stronger  than  the  generally  weak  correlations  demonstrated  by  earlier  investiga- 
tions testing  the  notion  that  the  dreamer’s  eyes  move  with  his  or  her  hallucinated 
dream  gaze,  which  had  to  rely  on  the  chance  occurrence  of  a   highly  recognizable 
eye  movement  pattern  that  was  readily  matchable  to  the  subject’s  reported  dream 
activity  (e.g.,  Roffwarg,  Dement,  Muzio,  &   Fisher,  1962).  This  would  seem  to 
illustrate  the  methodological  advantage  of  using  lucid  dreamers. 
LaBerge  (1980a,  1985a)  reports  having  straightforwardly  approached  the 
problem  of  dream  time  by  asking  subjects  to  estimate  various  intervals  of  time 
during  their  lucid  dreams.  Signals  marking  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  subjec- 
tive intervals  allowed  comparison  with  objective  time.  In  all  cases,  LaBerge 
reported,  time  estimates  during  the  lucid  dreams  were  very  close  to  the  actual 
time  between  signals. 
In  another  study,  LaBerge  and  Dement  ( 1 982a)  demonstrated  the  possibility 
of  voluntary  control  of  respiration  during  lucid  dreaming.  They  recorded  three 
lucid  dreamers  who  were  asked  to  either  breathe  rapidly  or  to  hold  their  breaths 
(in  their  lucid  dreams),  marking  the  invertal  of  altered  respiration  with  eye 
movement  signals.  The  subjects  reported  successfully  carrying  out  the  agreed- 
upon  tasks  a   total  of  nine  times,  and  in  every  case,  a  
judge  was  able  to  correctly 
predict  on  the  basis  of  the  polygraph  recordings  which  of  the  two  patterns  had 
been  executed  (p  <   .002). 
Evidence  of  voluntary  control  of  other  muscle  groups  during  REM  was 
found  by  LaBerge,  Nagel,  Dement,  and  Zarcone  (1981)  while  testing  a   variety  of 
lucidity  signals.  They  observed  that  a   sequence  of  left  and  right  dream-fist 
clenches  resulted  in  a   corresponding  sequence  of  left  and  right  forearm  twitches 
as  measured  by  EMG.  However,  the  amplitude  of  the  twitches  bore  an  unreliable 
relationship  to  the  subjective  intensity  of  the  dreamed  action.  Because  all  skeletal 
muscle  groups  except  those  that  govern  eye  movements  and  breathing  suffer  a 
profound  loss  of  tone  during  REM  sleep,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  most  muscular 
responses  to  dreamed  movements  will  be  feeble.  Nonetheless,  these  responses 
:   C 
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t 
i 
\ 
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« 
t 
I 
I 
I 
t 
I 
i 
i 
i 
i 
« i 
I 
DPg^Qfl7<89iR!0€3^CMt40()e«1a2ginal  dream  °ne  mieht  say that  the 
dreamer’s  body  responds  to  dreamed  actions  with  movements  that  are  but  shad- 
es of  the  originals. 
°  
Further  support  of  this  notion  comes  from  a   study  (Fenwick  et  al.,  1984)  of 
single  highly  proficient  lucid  dreamer  (Alan  Worsley,  who  had  also  been 
u   arne’s  1 19781  subject)  who  carried  out  a   variety  of  dreamed  muscular  move- 
nts while  being  polygraphically  recorded.  In  one  experiment,  Worsley  ex- 
H'oied  movements  during  lucid  dreams  involving  finger,  forearm,  and  shoulder 
^uscle  groups  (flexors)  while  EMG  was  recorded  from  each  area.  The  results 
were  consistent:  The  axial  muscles  showed  no  measurable  EMG  activity,  where- 
*   
the  forearm  EMG  “consistently  showed  lower  amplitude  and  shorter  bursts” 
compared  to  the  finger  EMG.  A   similar  experiment  with  the  lower  limbs  yielded 
C-  
ilar  results.  In  addition  to  the  finding  that  REM  atonia  shows  a   central 
peripheral  gradient  with  motor  inhibition  least  for  the  most  distal  muscles,  Fen- 
wick  et  al.  reported  that  similar  experiments  comparing  EMG  response  to 
dreamed  arm  and  leg  flexions  and  extensions  suggested  that  flexors  were  less 
inhibited  than  extensors.  In  addition  to  EMG,  an  accelerometer  was  utilized  in 
several  experiments  demonstrating  that  Worsley  was  able  to  produce  minor 
movements  of  his  fingers,  toes,  and  feet  during  REM,  though  not  of  his  legs. 
Fenwick  et  al.  also  presented  the  results  of  a   single  experiment  suggesting  that 
dream  speech  may  be  initiated  in  the  expiratory  phase  of  respiration  just  as  it 
usually  does  during  waking.  In  still  another  experiment  they  demonstrated  the 
voluntary  production  of  smooth  pursuit  eye  movements  during  a   lucid  dream. 
LaBerge  (1986)  has  carried  out  related  experiments  in  which  two  subjects  track- 
ed the  tip  of  their  fingers  moving  slowly  left  to  right  during  four  conditions:  (1) 
awake,  eyes  open;  (2)  awake,  eyes  closed  mental  imagery;  (3)  lucid  dreaming; 
and  (4)  imagination  (“dream  eyes  closed”)  during  lucid  dreaming.  The  subjects 
showed  saccadic  eye  movements  in  the  two  imagination  conditions  (2  and  4), 
anH  cmnnth.friirtfino 
mnopmpntc  rluHno  HrpamFfl  nr  actual  tracking  (condi- 
tions 1   and  3). 
Fenwick  et  al.  also  showed  that  Worsley  was  able  to  perceive  and  respond 
to  environmental  stimuli  (electrical  shocks)  without  awakening  from  his  lucid 
dream.  This  result  raises  a   theoretical  issue:  If  we  take  perception  of  the  external 
world  to  be  the  essential  criterion  for  wakefulness  (LaBerge,  Nagel,  Dement,  & 
Zarcone,  1981),  then  it  would  seem  that  Worsley  must  have  been  at  least  par- 
tially awake.  On  the  other  hand,  when  environmental  stimuli  are  incorporated 
into  dreams  without  producing  any  subjective  or  physiological  indications  of 
arousal,  it  appears  reasonable  to  speak  of  the  perception  as  having  occurred 
during  sleep.  Furthermore,  it  may  be  possible,  as  LaBerge  (1980c)  has  sug- 
gested, for  one  sense  to  remain  functional  and  “awake”  while  others  fall 
“asleep.”  As  long  as  we  continue  to  consider  wakefulness  and  sleep  as  a   simple 
dichotomy,  we  will  lie  in  a   Procrustian  bed  that  is  bound  at  times  to  be  most 
uncomfortable.  There  must  be  degrees  of  being  awake  just  as  there  are  degrees  of 
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ISO  ..c,  LABtRQ 
Approved  For  Release  2000/08/08  :   CL 
being  asleep  (i.e.,  the  conventional  sleep  stages).  Before  finding  our  way  out  of 
this  muddle,  we  will  probably  need  to  characterize  a   wider  variety  of  states  0f 
consciousness  than  those  few  currently  distinguished  (e.g.,  dreaming,  sleeping, 
waking,  and  so  on). 
Because  many  researchers  have  reported  cognitive  task  dependency  of  later- 
alization of  EEG  alpha  activity  in  the  waking  state,  LaBerge  undertook  a   pi|0, 
study  to  determine  whether  similar  relationships  would  hold  in  the  lucid  dream 
state.  The  two  tasks  selected  for  comparison  were  dreamed  singing  and  dreamed 
counting,  activities  expected  to  result  in  relatively  greater  engagement  of  the 
subjects’  left  and  right  cerebral  hemispheres,  respectively. 
Integrated  alpha  band  EEG  activity  was  derived  from  electrodes  placed  over 
right  and  left  temporal  lobes  while  four  subjects  sang  and  counted  in  their  lucid 
dreams  (marking  the  beginning  and  end  of  each  task  by  eye  movement  signals). 
The  results  supported  the  hypothesized  lateralization  of  alpha  activity:  The  right 
hemisphere  was  more  active  than  the  left  during  singing;  during  counting  the 
reverse  was  true.  These  shifts  were  similar  to  those  observed  during  actual 
singing  and  counting  (LaBerge  &   Dement,  1982b). 
Sexual  activity  is  a   rather  commonly  reported  theme  of  lucid  dreams  (Gar- 
field, 1979;  LaBerge,  1985a).  However,  at  this  point,  only  a   single  physiological 
investigation  of  lucid  dream  sex.has  been  published.  LaBerge,  Greenleaf,  and 
Kedzierski  (1983)  undertook  a   pilot  study  to  determine  the  extent  to  which 
subjectively  experienced  sexual  activity  during  REM  lucid  dreaming  would  be 
reflected  in  physiological  responses.  Their  subject  was  a   highly  proficient  lucid 
dreamer  who  spent  the  night  sleeping  in  the  laboratory.  Sixteen  channels  of 
physiological  data,  including  EEG,  EOG,  EMG,  respiration,  skin  conductance 
level  (SCL),  heart  rate,  vaginal  EMG  (VEMG),  and  vaginal  pulse  amplitude 
(VPA),  were  recorded.  The  experimental  protocol  called  for  the  subject  to  make 
specific  eye  movement  signals  at  the  following  points:  when  she  realized  she  was 
dreaming  (i.e.,  the  onset  of  the  lucid  dream);  when  she  began  sexual  activity  (in 
the  dream);  and  when  she  experienced  orgasm.  The  subject  reported  a   lucid 
dream  in  which  she  carried  out  the  experimental  task  exactly  as  agreed  upon. 
Data  analysis  revealed  a   significant  correspondence  between  her  subjective  re- 
port and  all  but  one  of  the  autonomic  measures;  during  the  15-second  orgasm 
epoch,  mean  levels  for  VEMG  activity,  VPA,  SCL,  and  respiration  rate  reached 
their  highest  values  and  were  significantly  elevated  compared  to  means  for  other 
REM  epochs.  Contrary  to  expectation,  heart  rate  increased  only  slightly  and 
nonsignificantly.  . 
LaBerge  (1985a)  reports  replicating  this  experiment  using  two  male  su  - 
jects.  In  both  cases,  respiration  showed  striking  increases  in  rate.  Again,  there 
were  no  significant  elevations  of  heart  rate.  Interestingly,  although  both  subjec  s 
reported  vividly  realistic  orgasms  in  their  lucid  dreams,  neither  actually  ejacu^ 
lated,  in  contrast  to  the  “wet  dreams”  commonly  experienced  by  adolescen 
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revcHOt’"'”''   
- R D P9 6 -0 0 78 9 R0 0 3 1 0^0 Up pm0 1   
r2ns  js  probab|y  local  reflex  irritability 
n,alCS  wet  dreams  do  not  necessarily  involve  dream  content  of  a   sexual  nature, 
^eCa°^n  contrast  to  lucid  dream  orgasms,  which  are  obviously  sexual;  it  appears 
ag3h  ve  two  extreme  cases:  “bottom-up”  versus  “top-down”  orgasms. 
WC  All  of  these  results  support  the  conclusion  that  the  events  we  experience 
•i  asleep  and  dreaming  produce  effects  on  our  brains  (and  to  a   lesser  extent. 
•JJ  0   remarkably  similar  to  those  that  would  be  produced  if  we  were  actually  to 
tbe  corresponding  events  while  awake.  The  reason  for  this  is  probably 
\Tthc  multimodal  imagery  of  the  dream  is  produced  by  the  same  brain  systems 
1   3  
nrojuce  the  equivalent  perceptions  (cf.  Finke,  1980).  Perhaps  this  is  why 
dreams  seem  so  real:  To  our  brains,  dreaming  of  doing  something  is  equivalent  to 
actually  doing  it. 
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