Proposal for experiment to allow for two-way communication between dreamer and researcher
Question 1: Can a researcher incorporate external stimuli into a sleeping subjects dream as a coded message?
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Question 2: Can a lucid dreaming subject respond to a coded message given by a researcher using eye movement patterns that will be recorded and later interpreted by the researcher?
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Hypothesis: If a subjects EEG waves, eye movements, and other physiology during sleep are observed in order to recognize consistent patterns, then a researcher could use those patterns to determine when they are likely in a dreaming state, and administer a coded message through external stimuli, to which a lucid dreamer could respond with a specified eye movement which correlates to a "yes" or "no" in order to accurately describe dream content.
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Condensed Protocol:
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- Subjects sleeping physiology are studied using Hypnodyne Zmax technology over a series of nights to determine which patterns indicate a dream state for that individual
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- The researcher and subject will agree on a set of coded messages. For example, the researcher will flash lights in the sleeping subjects face to signify the question "Is the sky blue?", and the subject when experiencing the stimulus in the dream will answer with a left-right-left eye movement to signify "yes", or a right-left-right eye movement to signify "no".
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- On the night of attempted communication, the researcher will observe the subjects waves until they signify a dreaming state in the subject.
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- When a dream state is indicated from the technology, then the researcher will administer the coded message in the form of the agreed upon stimulus, and the dreamer will respond with the appropriate eye movement.
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- After the subject wakes up, the researcher will review the readings from the session, and determine if any eye signals were given, and then determine what the answer was to the question that was asked.
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Abstract:
A study published in Nature Communications reports that eye movements during REM sleep trigger activity in certain parts of the brain which are directly associated with the activity that occurs when a new image is seen (Andrillon, et al). From this, it can be hypothesized that eye movements during REM are directly correlated to the eye movements made while perceiving a dream. If this is the case, then a lucid dreamer could use eye movements as a type of code to respond to the stimulus, and the researcher could analyze these eye movements to interpret the answer to the question coded from the stimulus.
If successful, this experiment could provide a rudimentary description of dream content. Beginning with one "yes" or "no" question to describe the dream, a more perfected protocol could be developed in which a series of stimuli is administered, each corresponding to a question. Then a simple, yet more detailed, description of an entire dreamscape, an event, or a dream character could be recorded.
It is important that a dreamer is reporting the content as they are experiencing it, rather than as a retrieved memory. Memory tends to be quite unreliable (see "Problems with Studying Dreams from Primarily Within Them") and in order to overcome this with our current technology, the ability to communicate the content of a dream, even if indirectly, is essential to further an accurate study of dreams.
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