title: Measuring consciousness in dreams: the lucidity and consciousness in dreams scale.
abstract: In this article, we present results from an interdisciplinary research project aimed at assessing consciousness in dreams. For this purpose, we compared lucid dreams with normal non-lucid dreams from REM sleep. Both lucid and non-lucid dreams are an important contrast condition for theories of waking consciousness, giving valuable insights into the structure of conscious experience and its neural correlates during sleep. However, the precise differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams remain poorly understood. The construction of the Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams scale (LuCiD) was based on theoretical considerations and empirical observations. Exploratory factor analysis of the data from the first survey identified eight factors that were validated in a second survey using confirmatory factor analysis: INSIGHT, CONTROL, THOUGHT, REALISM, MEMORY, DISSOCIATION, NEGATIVE EMOTION, and POSITIVE EMOTION. While all factors are involved in dream consciousness, realism and negative emotion do not differentiate between lucid and non-lucid dreams, suggesting that lucid insight is separable from both bizarreness in dreams and a change in the subjectively experienced realism of the dream.
authors.affiliation: J.W. Goethe University, Deptartment of Psychology, Frankfurt, Germany. voss@psych.uni-frankfurt.de
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Voss
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schermelleh-Engel
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Windt
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frenzel
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hobson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D003243:Consciousness; D004325:Dreams / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012895:Sleep, REM; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires