Testing the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in lucid dreaming: a tDCS study
Open accessAbstract
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.
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Transcranial direct current stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with enhanced lucidity during REM sleep.
“Another study showed that transcranial direct current stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with enhanced lucidity during REM sleep (analogous to the above-cited studies of minimal conscious access (Stumbrys et al., 2013).”
From Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis (2020) · cites this paper as Stumbrys et al., 2013
The Abstract and §3.2 report higher self-rated dream lucidity after DLPFC tDCS during REM sleep. But the Abstract describes the effect as weak, and the post-hoc analysis (§3.3) found increased lucidity only among frequent lucid dreamers; the citing sentence omits that limitation. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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References 54 · Cited by 85
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- [4]4. Baudewig, J., Nitsche, M. A., Paulus, W., & Frahm, J. (2001). Regional modulation of BOLD MRI responses to human sensorimotor activation by transcranial direct current stimulation. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 45(2), 196-201. doi:10.1002/1522- 2594(200102)45:2<196::AID-MRM1026>3.0.CO;2-1 · DOI
- [42]42. Schredl, M., Burchert, N., & Gabatin, Y. (2004). The effect of training on interrater reliability in dream content analysis. Sleep and Hypnosis, 6(3), 139-144.
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- Authors
- Stumbrys, T., Erlacher, D., & Schredl, M.
- Affiliations
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University of Bern (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Stumbrys, Tadas
- Venue
- Consciousness and Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-12
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1214-1222
- ISSN
- 1053-8100 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2076252591
- Cited by
- 85
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 4.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Consciousness and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Funders
- BIAL Foundation, Portugal (191/10)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- lucid dreaming, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, transcranial direct current stimulation, REM sleep, non-invasive brain stimulation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Awareness, Dreams, Electric Stimulation, Female, Humans, Male, Random Allocation, Sleep, REM, Polysomnography, Prefrontal Cortex, Young Adult
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