title: Testing the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in lucid dreaming: a tDCS study.
abstract: Recent studies suggest that lucid dreaming (awareness of dreaming while dreaming) might be associated with increased brain activity over frontal regions during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. By applying transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), we aimed to manipulate the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during REM sleep to increase dream lucidity. Nineteen participants spent three consecutive nights in a sleep laboratory. On the second and third nights they randomly received either 1 mA tDCS for 10 min or sham stimulation during each REM period starting with the second one. According to the participants' self-ratings, tDCS over the DLPFC during REM sleep increased lucidity in dreams. The effects, however, were not strong and found only in frequent lucid dreamers. While this indicates some preliminary support for the involvement of the DLPFC in lucid dreaming, further research, controlling for indirect effects of stimulation and including other brain regions, is needed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sports and Sports Sciences, Heidelberg University, Germany; Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany. Electronic address: tadas.stumbrys@issw.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Tadas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stumbrys
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Erlacher
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schredl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D004325:Dreams / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017286:Polysomnography; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Lucid dreaming; REM sleep; Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)