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The term lucid dream designates a dream in which the dreamer, while dreaming, is aware he or she is dreaming. Whereas lucid dreaming has been studied in adults, large-scaled surveys in children are scarce. The sample here included 3579 children for the ages from 6 to 18 who completed a brief questionnaire distributed in UK libraries. 43.5% reported having had at least one lucid dream. As hypothesized, incidence of lucid dreams was most strongly associated with the preference for reading fantasy/science-fiction. Whether lucid dreaming might be beneficial for children in skills training or coping with nightmares are interesting topics for future research.
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Lucid dreaming in children
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1. Introduction
The term lucid dream designates a dream in which the
dreamer, while dreaming, is aware he or she is dreaming
(Tholey, 1983; LaBerge & Rheingold, 1990). In student sam-
ples, the percentage of people who report having had at
least one lucid dream in their lifetime ranges from 57.5%
(Gackenbach, 1991) to 73% (Blackmore, 1982) and 82%
(Schredl & Erlacher, 2004). In two representative surveys,
the gures were lower: 26% (N = 1000; Stepansky, Holz-
inger, Schmeiser-Rieder, Saletu, Kunze, & Zeitlhofer, 1998)
and 51% (N = 919; Schredl & Erlacher, 2011). Although the
percentage of people who report ever having had a lucid
dream is high, the actual frequency of lucid dreams – as
measured by keeping dream diaries – is relatively low; less
than 1% of dreams (Barrett, 1991; Zadra, Donderi, & Pihl,
1992).
Lucid dreaming research in children is scarce; even
though anecdotal report of lucid dreaming can be found in
the literature (Kimmins, 1973). Armstrong-Hickey (1988), for
example, reported that she was a frequent lucid dreamer
between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Hickey (1988) studied
four children (age range from 10 to 12 yrs.) who were trained
in lucid dreaming in the sleep laboratory (each child for four
non-consecutive nights). She obtained six eye-signal veri-
ed lucid dreams reported by two of the children (Hickey,
1988). The procient lucid dreamer can carry out pre-ar-
ranged eye movement patters within the dream and these
can be detected by the electrooculogram (EOG) because
the muscle atonia characteristic for REM sleep does not af-
fect the eye muscles (Hearne, 1978; LaBerge, 1979). So,
REM lucid dreaming can found in children.
One problem studying this type of dream in children is
the child’s understanding of dreams. Piaget (1978) found
that young children tend to think that their dreams are real
experiences and after several steps in cognitive develop-
ment (around the age of 9 or 10), the child understands that
dreams are internally produced images during sleep. More
recent studies (Wilson, 1991; Meyer & Shore, 2001), howev-
er, showed that most ve-year olds do perceive dreams as
internal mental processes. Yet the concept of lucid dreaming
might be more difcult to understand: a study in preschool
children (4 to 6 years) found that most children believe that
in dreams there might be a specic form of controlling the
action – while being aware that it is an ongoing dream (Qin-
mei, Qinggong, & Jie, 2006). The only large-scaled survey
(N = 611) on the frequency of lucid dreams in children have
been carried out by Lapina, Lysenko, and Burikov (1998).
The percentage of children reported having lucid dreams
ranged from 5% (10 years) to about 50% in (12 to 14 years);
very high rates (80-90%) were found in 15 to 18-year olds.
These authors found that a six-week training in different lu-
cid dream induction methods like MILD (Mnemonic Induc-
tion of Lucid Dreams; LaBerge, 1985), reality checks (Tholey
& Utecht, 1987) or re-dreaming (Gareld, 1988) in thirteen
10 to12-year-old children resulted in a high rate of lucidity
(92% of the children had at least one lucid dream).
The present aim was to examine lucid-dream frequency
in a large sample of children. Furthermore, the effects of
age and gender, and associations of dream recall frequen-
cy and nightmare frequency with the occurrence of lucid
dreams was studied. In addition, the book preferences of
these children were studied as possible associates of the
occurrence of lucid dreaming. We hypothesized that read-
ing fantasy and science-ction stories could be associated
with lucid dreaming because children who are interested in
bizarre stories might recognize bizarre elements in dreams,
which could trigger lucidity, or their interest in alternative
worlds might be associated with an ability to recognize they
are dreaming.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
The sample included 3579 children (2196 girls, 1383 boys)
with the mean age of 12.0 ± 1.9 yrs. The sample sizes for
the ages from 6 to 18 are depicted in Table 1.
Lucid dreaming in children: The UK library study
Michael Schredl1, Josie Henley-Einion2 and Mark Blagrove2
1Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany
2Department of Psychology, Swansea University, United Kingdom
Corresponding address:
Prof. Dr. Michael Schredl, Sleep laboratory, Central Institute of
Mental Health, PO Box 122120, 68072 Mannheim, Germany.
Email: Michael.Schredl@zi-mannheim.de
Submitted for publication: February 2012
Accepted for publication: April 2012
Summary. The term lucid dream designates a dream in which the dreamer, while dreaming, is aware he or she is dream-
ing. Whereas lucid dreaming has been studied in adults, large-scaled surveys in children are scarce. The sample here
included 3579 children for the ages from 6 to 18 who completed a brief questionnaire distributed in UK libraries. 43.5%
reported having had at least one lucid dream. As hypothesized, incidence of lucid dreams was most strongly associated
with the preference for reading fantasy/science-ction. Whether lucid dreaming might be benecial for children in skills
training or coping with nightmares are interesting topics for future research.
Keywords: Lucid dreaming, Children, Book preferences
International Journal of Dream Research Volume 5, No. 1 (2012) 95
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Lucid dreaming in children
2.2. Dream questionnaire
The questionnaire entitled “Dream lab: The big library ex-
periment” was devised by the Library Association (United
Kingdom) and Mark Blagrove. The rst section of the ques-
tionnaire included a question about types of book that the
child likes to read. The following instruction was given:
‘Please put a tick in the box next to any of the following
types of books that you like to read for leisure, that is, not
for school’. The categories of books were as follows: ction
(novels and stories), scary stories, history books, poetry,
fantasy/science-ction, arts and crafts, nature and science,
religious books, other fact books, puzzles/joke books, sport
and hobbies. The rst question of the dream section cov-
ered dream recall frequency, using a ve-point format: How
often do you wake up and recall a dream? 4 = 4-7 times per
week, 3 = 1-3 times per week, 2 = 1-4 times per month, 1
= 1-11 times per year and 0 = less than 1 time per year, or
never. The same scale was given for measuring nightmare
frequency including a brief denition for nightmares: “A
nightmare is a vivid dream that is frightening or disturbing,
and which you can remember clearly and in detail when you
wake up. How often do you have such a nightmare?”
The question about having lucid dreams was formulated
as follows: “Have you ever had a dream during which you
knew that you very dreaming? Yes/ No / Don’t know. Ad-
ditional denitions about lucid dreams were not given. For
the purpose of the analysis of whether participants had ever
had a lucid dream, the category Yes was used, and the cat-
egories No and Don’t know were combined.
2.3. Procedure
The dream lab questionnaire was distributed in libraries all
over the United Kingdom. The text explicitly stated that one
does not have to remember dreams, go to a library or read
regularly to ll in the questionnaire: this was in order to mini-
mize possible selection effects. The completed question-
naire could be returned to the library or sent to the Library
Association anonymously. For the present analysis, ques-
tionnaires completed by children from 6 yrs. to 18 yrs. were
included.
For testing the association of age, gender, dream recall
frequency, nightmare frequency and book preference on lu-
cid dreaming, logistic regressions was computed using the
SAS 9.2 for Windows software package (SAS Institute Inc.,
Cary, NC, USA). Due to missing values, sample sizes vary
slightly.
3. Results
In Table 1 and Figure 1, the lucid dream frequency is depict-
ed for each age group. Of the total group, 43.5% reported
having had at least one lucid dream. Many children checked
the “Don’t know” category (32.7%), whereas 23.9% of the
children clearly stated that they never had experienced a lu-
cid dream in their life. The percentage for boys (45.2%) was
slightly higher than for girls (42.4%) – a signicant difference
(see Table 2). The mean of the dream recall frequency scale
was 2.61 ± 1.25 (n = 3522), for nightmare frequency scale
1.47 ± 1.20 (n= 3554).
The logistic regression showed a signicant increase with
age in having had lucid dreams and a signicant gender
effect with boys reporting more often that they had lucid
dreams than girls (see Table 2). As expected, dream recall
frequency was related to having had a lucid dream, as was
nightmare frequency, although to a lesser extent.
In the second logistic regression, the book preferences
were included (see Table 3). This analysis with threshold of
p corrected in order to correct for multiple testing (p < .005)
found signicant associations with reading fantasy/science-
ction books and also ction. The association between
having had a lucid dream and fantasy/science ction book
preference could not be accounted for by any relationship
between this book preference and age: The correlation be-
tween age and preference of reading fantasy/science ction
books was non-signicant (r = -.006, p = .738, n = 3579).
Table 1: Percentage of children with lucid dreams
(N = 3540)
Age group Sample size Frequeny
6 yrs. 17 29.4%
7 yrs. 35 34.5%
8 yrs. 93 40.9%
9 yrs. 185 46.0%
10 yrs. 278 44.2%
11 yrs. 597 38.4%
12 yrs. 1063 43.6%
13 yrs. 687 43.1%
14 yrs. 338 49.7%
15 yrs. 143 43.4%
16 yrs. 65 53.9%
17 yrs. 23 60.9%
18 yrs. 16 56.3%
Figure 1: Percentage of children who have ever had a lucid dream
Lucid dreaming in children
International Journal of Dream Research Volume 5, No. 1 (2012)96
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Similarly, the correlation between the preference of reading
ction and age was not signicant (r =.008, p = .635, n =
3579).
4. Discussion
Overall, the ndings of the present study indicate that lucid
dreaming had occurred in about 45% of the participating
children; a gure which is comparable to adults (Schredl &
Erlacher, 2011).
Prior to discussing the ndings in detail, two method-
ological issues should be taken into consideration. First, the
present sample is not representative. It is likely that a selec-
tion bias might have affected the results, i.e., high dream
recallers may be more likely to ll in the dream question-
naire. However, as the relationship between lucid dreaming
and dream recall frequency was quite small, (standardized
measure of 0.169), any such overestimation of lucid dream-
ing frequency might not be too pronounced. The second
issue is about understanding correctly the denition of lu-
cid dreaming – an issue raised by Snyder and Gackenbach
(1988). These authors recommend eliciting sample lucid
dreams in order to check whether the participants have
correctly understood the denition. For adults, the rate of
non-lucid dreams reported as lucid dreams is below 2%
(Johnson, 2007). But, as Qinmei et al. (2006) reported, this
might be different for young children. So, it is necessary to
replicate the current study but with the use of interview or
other dream content reporting. As a considerable number of
children answered with “Don’t know”, it might be helpful to
use examples of lucid dreams typically reported by children
to help the children understand the concept. In view of this
nding, one might expect even higher prevalence rates in
children compared to the present study.
Whereas in adults, most studies (Gruber, Steffen, & Von-
derhaar, 1995; Stepansky, et al., 1998; Schredl & Erlacher,
2011) did not nd gender differences in lucid dreaming, a
small but signicant difference was found in the present
study. One explanation might be the connection between
frequency video game play and lucid dreaming (Gacken-
bach, 2006) because boys more often engage in comput-
er game playing than girls (Schredl, Anders, Hellriegel, &
Rehm, 2008).
The increase in age was expected because of the word-
ing of the question: “Have you ever had a dream during
which you knew that you were dreaming?” Simply as a re-
Table 2: Logistic regression for lucid dream occurrence
(N = 3473)
Variables SE1Wald χ2p -value
Age .0590 8.0 .0025
Sex (1 = male, 2 = fe-
male)
-.0514 7.1 .0076
Dream recall frequency .1694 68.0 <.0001
Nightmare frequency .0721 13.0 .0003
1 SE = Standardized Estimates
Table 3: Logistic regression for lucid dream occurrence in relation to book preferences (N = 3473)
Variable Frequency1SE2Wald χ2p -value
Age .0618 8.9 .0029
Sex (1 = male, 2 = female) -.0677 9.8 .0017
Dream recall frequency .1669 64.7 <.0001
Nightmare frequency .0759 11.1 .0002
Fiction (novels and stories) 61.1% .0619 8.9 .0029
Scary stories 53.5% .0166 0.7 .4042
History books 15.5% .0224 1.1 .2999
Poetry 28.3% -.0059 0.1 .7909
Fantasy/science-ction 36.3% .0641 9.7 .0019
Arts and crafts 17.9% .0514 5.6 .0180
Nature and science 16.0% -.0037 0.0 .8696
Religious books 6.6% .0186 0.8 .3760
Other fact books 15.4% .0096 0.2 .6609
Puzzles/joke books 48.1% -.0530 6.1 .0133
Sport and hobbies 26.9% -.0205 0.9 .3355
1 Percentage of the total sample reporting this book preference, 2 SE = Standardized Estimates.
International Journal of Dream Research Volume 5, No. 1 (2012) 97
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Lucid dreaming in children
sult of being older one would expect this value to increase.
It would be interesting to include a scale measuring current
lucid dreaming frequency and compare those to gures ob-
tained in adults. The study of Lapina et al. (1998) reported
that about 30% of the adolescents (age range: 14 to 17
yrs.) experience lucid dreams once or twice a week; a per-
centage that is much higher than reported by adults (4.9%;
Schredl & Erlacher, 2011).
That lucid dreaming is associated with dream recall fre-
quency is also very plausible because the chance to recall a
lucid dream increases with recalling more dreams. This rela-
tionship has also been found in adults, (Schredl & Erlacher,
2004). As lucid dreams can occur as a result of nightmares
(Wolpin, Marston, Randolph, & Clothies, 1992), the correla-
tion between nightmare frequency and lucid dreaming also
seems plausible. An alternative explanation of this correla-
tion might be that there are inter-individual differences in
physiological arousal during sleep producing more intense
dreaming; nightmares on the one hand and lucid dreams
on the other. Both types of dreaming are associated with
heightened arousal during sleep, (for a review see: Erlacher
& Schredl, 2008). Although lucid dreaming frequency and
nightmare frequency are both correlated strongly with dream
recall frequency, lucid dreaming frequency and nightmare
frequency are still correlated if dream recall is statistically
controlled for (Schredl & Erlacher, 2011), i.e., this correlation
is not explained by overall heightened dream recall.
The relationship between book preferences and lucid
dreaming is very interesting. As many of the categories were
not associated with lucid dreaming frequency, the signicant
associations with reading fantasy/science-ction and ction
books cannot be explained by reading a greater number of
books in general. These two associations also cannot be at-
tributed to age because these two reading preferences did
not correlate with age. One can hypothesize that children
who experienced lucid dreaming with its potential to inu-
ence the dream action, and to things that are not possible in
waking life, like ying, might, as a result, be more interested
in reading fantasy and/or science ction books. On the other
hand, reading such books might get the child interested in
lucid dreaming. Or the associations may be explained by an
underlying personality characteristic, such as absorption
or imagination (the latter having been associated with lucid
dreaming frequency in adults (Schredl & Erlacher, 2004).
Whereas several studies (Blagrove, Bell, & Wilkinson,
2010; Neider, Pace-Schott, Forselius, Pittman, & Morgan,
2011) linked lucid dreaming to performance in different cog-
nitive tasks, systematic research in children has not been
reported in the literature, although the Lipina et al. (1998)
study mentioned good school performance in children with
frequent lucid dreams. It would be very interesting if specic
cognitive abilities associated, for example, with the prefron-
tal cortex (Neider, et al., 2011), are related with the ability to
dream lucidly. On the other hand, lucid dreaming might be
used to enhance performance in motor learning – as be-
ing reported by athletes (Erlacher, 2005) and in a small eld
study (Erlacher & Schredl, 2010). In addition, there has been
a report of lucid dreams being used for coping with night-
mares (Spoormaker & Van den Bout, 2006); a technique
which might be employed if imagery rehearsal therapy as
the most effective nightmare treatment strategy (Simard &
Nielsen, 2009) is not working.
To summarize, lucid dreams occur to about 45% of chil-
dren, a gure that is comparable to that for adults. Also,
prevalence of lucid dreaming is associated with two book
reading preferences (ction and fantasy/science-ction).
The latter results indicate either a causal relationship in
some direction between lucid dreaming and these book
preferences, or the results indicate that there is some other
variable, such as personality, that results in having a lucid
dream and these book preferences. As lucid dreaming is
quite common in children, empirical research linking lucid
dreaming to waking cognitive abilities or studying the ben-
ecial effects of lucid dreams should be promoted in the
future.
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... Beyond quantifying the prevalence of nightmares in these populations (Schredl et al., 2009b), these studies found that girls tended to report more nightmares than boys, and that nightmare frequency was associated with psychopathological symptoms such as anxiety or emotional symptoms (Nielsen et al., 2000;Schredl et al., 2009a;Simard et al., 2008). In a large-scale study involving more than 3500 children aged 6-18, the UK library study simultaneously assessed several dream properties, including dream recall frequency, nightmare frequency, and lucid dream frequency (Georgi et al., 2012;Schredl et al., 2012). The authors showed that, on average, children experienced dreams between once a month and 3 times a week, while they experienced nightmares between once a year and 4 times a month, and that these dream measures were correlated with each other (Georgi et al., 2012). ...
... Finally, while dream recall frequency and lucid dream frequency were also positively correlated with the intensity of positive emotions in dreams, nightmare frequency was negatively correlated with the latter. These inter-correlations across dream variables, as well as their direction, are largely in accordance with the literature (Georgi et al., 2012;Schonbar, 1961;Schredl, 2003;Schredl et al., 2012;Schredl & Doll, 1998;Vallat et al., 2018), and suggest potential mechanisms at play in dreaming. For instance, the relationship between the emotional intensity experienced in dreams, irrespective of its valence, and the dream recall frequency might be explained by the salience hypothesis (Cohen & MacNeilage, 1974), according to which emotions experienced during dreams facilitate the subsequent recall of the latter. ...
... As for dream recall and nightmare frequency, our results are in apparent contradiction with the literature (Georgi et al., 2012;Schredl et al., 2012;Schredl & Reinhard, 2008;Schredl & Reinhard, 2011). ...
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... This result supports earlier work suggesting a relationship between lucid dreaming, dream recall and lucid dream frequency. Moreover, research suggests that dream recall and lucid dream frequency are predictors of lucidity Schredl & Erlacher, 2004, 2011Schredl et al., 2012;Stumbrys et al., 2014). ...
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Synaesthesia is a phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sensory modality automatically and consistently over time evokes a sensation in the same or a different modality in an idiosyncratic manner. In addition to pure sensory coupling, synaesthetes are characterized by cognitive peculiarities, such as abnormalities in perception, creativity, advantages in vocabulary, and vivid imagery. The present work is concerned with the question of the extent to which synaesthetes’ unusual perception is reflected in the dream state. Little is known about synaesthetes’ dreaming behaviour. Dreams are equated with the unconscious processing of the mind. An exception is a lucid dream, in which one is aware of their dreaming. In this dissociative state, it is possible to establish a connection to one's waking reality, wake up in a targeted manner, and control dream actions. Through self-report measures, participants (N=31 grapheme-colour-synaesthetes; N=32 non-synaesthetes) indicated their dream experiences and completed the Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams scale (LuCiD scale). Synaesthetes reported lucid dream experiences significantly more often than non-synaesthetes. Qualitative differences were not found between both groups’ lucid dreamers. The two groups of lucid dreamers reported a majority of highly frequented lucidity. In addition, an association was identified between the early onset of lucid dreaming and higher values of the LuCiD scale. The results are discussed regarding the relevance of lucidity in synaesthesia within the context of consciousness research.
... Thus, it can be assumed that everyone can learn lucid dreaming or develop already existing abilities (LaBerg, 1980). Frequency of lucid dreams, as well as dream recall frequency, is a high predictor of lucidity Schredl & Erlacher, 2004, 2011Schredl et al., 2012;Stumbrys et al., 2014). There is also evidence that people with increased inclinations toward divergent creativity, an internal locus of control, and a need for cognition seem to have lucid dreams more frequently (Blagrove & Hartnell, 2000;Zink & Pietrowsky, 2013). ...
... This result supports earlier work suggesting a relationship between lucid dreaming, dream recall, and lucid dream frequency. Moreover, research suggests that dream recall and lucid dream frequency are predictors of lucidity Schredl & Erlacher, 2004, 2011Schredl et al., 2012;Stumbrys et al., 2014). ...
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Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which the stimulation of 1 sensory modality automatically and consistently over time evokes a sensation in the same or a different modality in an idiosyncratic manner. In addition to pure sensory coupling, synesthetes are characterized by cognitive peculiarities, such as abnormalities in perception, creativity, advantages in vocabulary, and vivid imagery. The present work is concerned with the question of the extent to which synesthetes’ unusual perception is reflected in the dream state. Little is known about synesthetes’ dreaming behavior. Dreams are equated with the unconscious processing of the mind. An exception is a lucid dream, in which one is aware of their dreaming. In this dissociative state, it is possible to establish a connection to one’s waking reality, wake up in a targeted manner, and control dream actions. Through self-report measures, participants (N = 31 grapheme–color synesthetes; N = 32 nonsynesthetes) indicated their dream experiences and completed the Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams scale. Synesthetes reported lucid dream experiences significantly more often than nonsynesthetes. Qualitative differences were not found between both groups’ lucid dreamers. The 2 groups of lucid dreamers reported a majority of highly frequented lucidity. In addition, an association was identified between the early onset of lucid dreaming and higher values of the Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams scale. The results are discussed regarding the relevance of lucidity in synesthesia within the context of consciousness research.
... Zadra (1997) and Spoormaker and van den Bout (2006) found that, compared to baseline and waiting-list conditions, not only did the frequency of nightmares decrease significantly, but the quality of sleep increased and PTSD symptoms were alleviated (Krakow et al., 2001), suggesting that LDT may be a helpful therapy. LD has been investigated in adults (Schredl et al., 2012) but studies that examine nightmares under psychological and physiological aspects at the same time are scarce. This can be explained on the one hand by the high costs of polysomnographic recording and on the other hand through the lack of nightmare exploration in sleep laboratory studies. ...
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About 80% of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients suffer from nightmares or dysphoric dreams that cause major distress and impact nighttime or daytime functioning. Lucid dreaming (LD) is a learnable and effective strategy to cope with nightmares and has positive effects on other sleep variables. In LDs, the dreamer is aware of the dreaming state and able to control the dream content. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of lucid dreaming therapy (LDT) in patients suffering from PTSD. We suggest that learning a technique that enables the affected subjects to regulate the occurrence and content of nightmares autonomously increases the chance of coping with the complex symptoms of PTSD and can reduce suffering. Sleep quality (PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), daytime sleepiness (ESS, Epworth Sleepiness Scale), quality of life (MQLI, Multicultural Quality of Life Index), psychological distress (SCL-90-R, Symptom Checklist 90-Revised), distress caused by traumatic events (IE-S, Impact of Events Scale), anxiety (SAS, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale), depression (SDS, Self-Rating Depression Scale), and nightmare severity were assessed in a self-rating questionnaire before and after the intervention. LDT had no effect on the investigated sleep variables. No correlation between reduction of nightmare severity and changes in PTSD-profile (IE-S) was found. Nevertheless, levels of anxiety and depression decreased significantly in the course of therapy. LDT could provide an alternate or complementary treatment option for nightmares in PTSD, specifically for symptoms of anxiety and depression.
... Although frequent lucid dreaming is considered to be a rare ability, a recent metaanalysis suggests that about 55% of individuals have experienced a lucid dream at least once in their lifetime and about 23% have lucid dreams regularly, i.e., at least once a month (Saunders, Roe, Smith, & Clegg, 2016). Lucid dreams are also prevalent in children, to a similar extent as in adults, and younger children even seem to have lucid dreams more frequently, suggesting that the maturing brain might be more prone to lucid dreaming (Schredl, Henley-Einion, & Blagrove, 2012;Voss, Frenzel, Koppehele-Gossel, & Hobson, 2012). Most often lucid dreams originate spontaneously or out of nightmares in adolescence , but the ability to lucid dream can also be learned and developed. ...
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Despite the fact that lucid dream research and transpersonal psychology have common grounds, overlapping interests and a great potential to contribute to each other, the two fields over the recent decades evolved rather separately. The present article aims to renew the mutual dialogue by introducing the recent advancements of lucid dream research to the transpersonal community, discussing the relevance and providing some common directions for the future. It is argued that lucid dreaming is a transpersonal experience in itself, which can be mapped and explored, and also used as a gateway to facilitate further transpersonal and mystical experiences. Lucid dreaming can be used therapeutically as a tool for transpersonal psychotherapy or as a spiritual practice. Finally, it may help to gain some insights into the nature of consciousness. Combining empirical findings from lucid dream research with transpersonal frameworks might be a fruitful approach to advance the understanding of farther reaches of human dream nature.
... Reaching a lucid dream state is considered to be rather rare: Although the general population estimates suggest that about half of adults have experienced at least one lucid dream in their lifetimes (Saunders, Roe, Smith, & Clegg, 2016); only about 20% experience lucid dreams frequently (Schredl & Erlacher, 2011), i.e., having lucid dreams more than once a month (Snyder & Gackenbach, 1988). Interestingly, children seem to become lucid during dreams more frequently than adults (Schredl, Henley-Einion, & Blagrove, 2012;Voss, Frenzel, Koppehele-Gossel, & Hobson, 2012). Moreover, cultural differences exist as well: a Japanese student sample revealed a signifi cantly lower lucid dream frequency when compared to Dutch, German and American students (Erlacher, Schredl, Watanabe, Yamana, & Gantzert, 2008). ...
Article
A variety of induction techniques have been proposed to increase lucid dream frequency. An online survey was performed asking about knowledge of lucid dreaming and lucid dream induction techniques. The initial sample size was N=1380 with a subsample of N=716 who were asked questions concerning lucid dream induction techniques. The findings indicate that one quarter of all participants had heard of lucid dreaming once or several times via literature, the Internet or friends. An increase in age was negatively correlated to previous knowledge of lucid dreaming whereas female gender and higher education showed a positive correlation to knowledge about lucid dreaming via literature and friends. The lucid dream induction techniques of reality checks, critical questions, hypnosis and supplements are most commonly known to the subsample of the survey participants. Except for hypnosis these techniques are also the most often applied. The total number of techniques that are known correlated negatively with age, but not with gender or education. No significant differences, however, were found for the total number of techniques that were applied. It would be very interesting to study whether the reported application of these induction techniques - carried out in the home setting by the individual alone - had beneficial effects on lucid dream frequency as the efficacy of most induction techniques were only studied within formal research projects.
... That is to say, older participants suffered from nightmares more relative to younger persons. Age at the onset of the fi rst lucid dream was assessed in some studies (Schredl, Henley-Einion, & Blagrove, 2012;Voss, Frenzel, Koppehele-Gossel, & Hobson, 2012), which showed that lucid dreams are more common in childhood and adolescence. Also, the frequency of creative dreams and attitude towards dreams decrease with advancing age (Schredl, 2004). ...
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We conducted this study to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of Mannheim Dream (MADRE) questionnaire. The study population included students of School of Psychology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, who were selected randomly through the convenience sampling method. Reliability of the tool was evaluated by test-retest and Cronbach's alpha methods. The Persian scale demonstrated good test-retest reliability (69%), and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole questionnaire was calculated at 0.85. Overall, 24 items with high reliability were retained from the final version of the questionnaire. Based on factor analysis, the following six factors emerged: concept of dream, effects of dreams on waking life, timing, experience and feelings, childhood memories, and articles and entries available. Our findings indicated that the Persian version of the MADRE questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument.
... Regarding the assessment of LD prevalence, it appears that the type of methodology cannot explain the variability of LD frequency across studies. Others factors such as age ( Schredl et al., 2012;Voss et al., 2012), cultural representations toward dream experience ) or the fact that retrospective measurement is dependent on memory and meta-cognitive capacity Aspy et al., 2015), have already been pointed out to possibly explain this discrepancy. However, further studies are still needed to investigate the respective contribution of each of these factors in generating variability in LD frequency. ...
... Especially during childhood and early adolescence, lucid dreams appear to occur spontaneously and without previous effort or intent ( Schredl et al., 2012;Voss et al., 2012). In adulthood, REM-initiated lucid dreams are much less frequent, and in our experience, many participants experience this method as more difficult to master successfully. ...
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Dreams are sometimes described as an intensified form of spontaneous waking thought. Lucid dreams may seem to be a counterexample, because metacognitive insight into the fact that one is now dreaming is often associated with the ability to deliberately control the ongoing dream. This chapter uses conceptual considerations and empirical research findings to argue that lucid dreaming is in fact a promising and rich target for the future investigation of spontaneous thought. In particular, the investigation of dream lucidity can shed light on the relationship between metacognitive insight and control, on the one hand, and the spontaneous, largely imagistic cognitive processes that underlie the formation of dream imagery, on the other hand. In some cases, even lucid insight itself can be described as the outcome of spontaneous processes, rather than as resulting from conscious and deliberate reasoning. This raises new questions about the relationship between metacognitive awareness and spontaneous thought.
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This experiment assesses children's reactions to dreams conveyed in mass media programming. A total of 120 children from two grade levels (kinder-garten and first vs. second through fourth) watched one of four versions of a frightening movie scene that were created by factorially varying the inclusion of a prologue and an epilogue. Both the prologue and the epilogue relied upon standard production techniques to convey that the story was a dream. Results revealed that both age groups who saw either the prologue or the epilogue were able to recognize the dream. Moreover, the prologue reduced children's negative interpretations of and emotional reactions to the program, whereas the epilogue had no such effects. The findings are consistent with research on children's comprehension of formal features and with the idea that formal features can activate schemata.
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Evaluated the efficacy of a lucid dream induction (LDI) technique with 17 male and 30 female university students (aged 19–26 yrs) who were introduced to P. Tholey's (1983) combined technique for LDI. One group of Ss had experienced lucid dreams while the other group reported never having experienced lucid dreams. Another group of nonlucid dreamers served as a nontreatment control group. Among previously nonlucid dreamers, a significantly greater proportion of Ss who presented with the LDI technique reported a lucid dream. This group also reported more lucid dreams in total than the nontreatment control group. Among prior lucid dreamers, the technique was found to increase the number, relative to baseline levels, of lucid dreams reported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The improvement of various cognitive skills associated with video game play has been well documented; however, the development of consciousness implications have not been considered. In the present study several potential indicators of consciousness development, including and especially lucid dreaming frequency, were examined as a function of video game play. In the first study, high video game players were more likely to report lucid dreams, observer dreams, and dream control when dream recall frequency and motion disorientation during play were controlled. There were no similar differences in other consciousness development indices. In the second study, a slightly different pattern of results occurred because of respondents all being frequent players. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Lucid dreaming has been said to be within the capability of all individuals (LaBerge, 1985). Based on analyses of the incidence of this dream experience among university students and among persons with an expressed interest in dreaming, a majority have reported experiencing at least one lucid dream during their lifetime, and about 20% have reported experiencing lucid dreams with relative frequency. Our goal in this chapter is to describe and to integrate what has been learned through research about individuals who experience lucid dreams. To this end we will present data derived from the study of four separable but not unrelated functional domains for which subject differences associated with lucid dreaming, or lucidity, have been found. These functional domains are (1) oculomotor/equilibratory; (2) visual/imaginal; (3) intellectual/creative, and (4) personal/interpersonal. The extent of individual differences in lucid dreaming and the methods by which these differences have been investigated will also be discussed. Because methodology is an integral part of research into individual differences, methodological considerations will first be presented.
Article
Nocturnal dreams can be considered as a kind of simulation of the real world on a higher cognitive level. Within lucid dreams, the dreamer is able to control the ongoing dream content and is free to do what he or she wants. In this pilot study, the possibility of practicing a simple motor task in a lucid dream was studied. Forty participants were assigned to a lucid dream practice group, a physical practice group and a control group. The motor task was to toss 10-cent coins into a cup and hit as many as possible out of 20 tosses. Waking performance was measured in the evening and on the next morning by the participants at home. The 20 volunteers in the lucid dream practice group attempted to carry out the motor task in a lucid dream on a single night. Seven participants succeeded in having a lucid dream and practiced the experimental task. This group of seven showed a significant improvement in performance (from 3.7 to 5.3); the other 13 subjects showed no improvement (from 3.4 to 2.9). Comparing all four groups, the physical practice group demonstrated the highest enhancement in performance followed by the successful lucid dream practice group. Both groups had statistically significant higher improvements in contrast to the nondreaming group and the control group. Even though the experimental design is not able to explain if specific effects (motor learning) or unspecific effects (motivation) caused the improvement, the results of this study showed that rehearsing in a lucid dream enhances subsequent performance in wakefulness. To clarify the factors which increased performance after lucid dream practice and to control for confounding factors, it is suggested that sleep laboratory studies should be conducted in the future. The possibilities of lucid dream practice for professional sports will be discussed.
Article
A lengthy questionnaire and a battery of individual difference measures were completed by 81 female and 24 male adult lucid dreamers. While the sample was predominantly female, few gender differences were found. Lucid dreaming frequency was related to general recall of dreams, ability to induce lucid dreams, and moderately to lucid dream control. None of the individual difference measures correlated with frequency. However, level of lucid dream control correlated with subjective well-being and waking imagery vividness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)