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JICrnmcin LABDEKGE lucid dreams observed in a gi APRERYAOAG mRakeasadah WUABLOB stage REM for the same REM period. A regression analysis clearly demonstrate that relative lucidity probability was a linear function of ordinal REM Period number (r = .98, p< .0001). No measure of activation (EM, RR, HR, SP) even approached significance when entered into the regression equation, indicating that the increase in lucid dream probability is not explained by a general increase in CNS activation across the night. These results strongly support the conclusion that lucid dreams are more likely to occur in later REM periods than in earlier ones—provided, of course, that sleep is continued long enough. Another factor influencing the temporal distribution of lucid dreams is initiation type. LaBerge’s (1987) personal record of lucid dreams indicates that, for him, W-type lucid dreams are over 10 times more frequent during afternoon naps than they are during the first REM period of the night (p_ <_.0002). psYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF LUCID DREAMING “ROE OS 007 8900319914090 AsSciated with high alpha activity. One -. that the differences found between low and high alpha reports were based - arily on the degrees of prelucidity in the reports. Even more important, we ‘aa no assurance of whether, in either condition, the episode of prelucidity or ait occurred in association with the final 20 to 30 second period of either et > low alpha activity that determined the awakening condition. Moreover, ine ause none of the dreams classified as lucid were marked by any signals, we howe no proof that they were in fact lucid dreams, nor in any case do we have any way of determining what the degree of alpha activity was during the frequently i i ; . “porqe bret Piso Onilvie - al.’s (1982) design, we cannot exclude the possibility that what their study may actually have demonstrated is that the tendencies of EEG ALPHA ACTIVITY DURING REM LUCID DREAMS The fact that lucid dreaming occurs during REM sleep partially defines the sort of EEG activity characteristic of lucid dreams. However, the standard crite- tia for determining REM sleep (Rechtschaffen & Kales, 1968) are quite general when referring to the EEG, being simply “relatively low voltage, mixed fre- quency,”’ without specifying how much of which frequencies might be mixed. As noted previously, REM sleep is a labile and heterogeneous state. For exam- ple, during REM, the EEG sometimes shows predominant 2 to 3 Hz ‘‘sawtooth”’ waves, whereas at other times it may exhibit prominent 8 to 10 Hz alpha waves. Consequently, the question arises: Does the range of EEG activity characteristic of lucid dreams reliably differ in any way from that of nonlucid dreams? In a series of studies, Ogilvie and colleagues have pursued the hypothesis that lucid dreams are associated with high levels of alpha activity. In the first of these investigations, they came to the initial ‘‘impression that alpha is the domi- nant EEG frequency during lucid dreams’’ on the rather shaky grounds of a comparison of ‘‘percent alpha in the EEG”’ of just two lucid dream REM periods with percentage alpha for six nonlucid dream REM periods for a single subject (Ogilvie, Hunt, Sawicki, & McGowan, 1978, p. 165). Ogilvie, Hunt, Tyson, Lucescu, and Jeakins (1982) followed up their pre- liminary work with a larger study in which 10 subjects (all good dream recallers, with a wide range of lucid dreaming ability) were recorded 2 nights each in the sleep laboratory, during which they were awakened four times per night from REM sleep: half of the time during periods of relatively high alpha and half of the time during relatively low alpha. Dream reports were collected and rated on a lucidity scale by a judge blind to the awakening condition. Significantly higher lucidity ratings were obtained for high-alpha compared to low-alpha awakenings. Several methodological problems of this study cast doubt on Ogilvie et al.’s tacid vary with the amount of alpha activity either just before or during the process of awakening. Support for this interpretation comes from an cars study, which concluded that mentation reports collected from REM pen ‘. showing EEGs with a high proportion of alpha waves were associates ni “some feeling of control over the content’’ and were frequently labe i" ry subjects as **thoughts’’ rather than ‘‘dreams’’ (Goodenough, Shapiro, Holden, i iber, 1959). -_ . here 8 another » ossible design problem with the Ogilvie et al. (1982) study that seems serious enough to merit mention: The judges lucidity ratings were based not upon the spontaneous dream reports but on the subjects answers to rather leading questions subsequently posed by the interviewer, such as Was there any point when you wondered whether or not you might be creamnine and ‘‘Was there any point at which you knew you were dreaming while t e dream was going on?’’ The demand characteristics should be obvious. — tionally, there is a problem that retrospective judgments about earlier states 0 mind are likely to be confounded by our current mental state. Cognitive capaci- ties we currently possess are likely to be mistakenly remembered as having been present in an earlier state. A conservative approach should perhaps put ‘more weight on the original dream reports; in the present context, one wouid like to know how many subjects spontaneously mentioned in their reports that they had been prelucid or lucid. In a more recent study, Ogilvie et al. (1983) remedied several of these methodological problems and arrived at a conclusion regarding alpha activity and lucidity unsupportive of their earlier work. They studied eight lucid dreamers for | to 4 nights in a sleep lab. The subjects were awakened from REM following spontaneous or cued eye movement signals. The cue buzzer sounded after 15S minutes of REM during periods of either high or low alpha activity. The subjects were to signal at the cue and again 30 seconds later if in a lucid dream. Reports were elicited 30 to 60 seconds after cued or spontaneous signals and rated for lucidity. Contrary to their earlier findings, the low-alpha condition yielded Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003100140001-2 -have_been_briefly_or_partially _