Scientists find switch for people to control their dreams – Vox

HatTip to Jay who is working on a tDCS/lucid dreaming project of his own.
tACS is transcranial alternating current, significantly more complex, from what I gather than tDCS. But perhaps a DIY tACS device set to 40 Hz specifically won’t be out of the question for DIYers. As someone who spent months (unsuccessfully) doing lucid dreaming exercises I certainly would welcome the opportunity to experience lucid dreaming.

The new dream study (paywall), which was published May 11 in Nature Neuroscience, used a far less invasive method: electrodes temporarily placed at strategic locations on the scalp. The research involved 24 volunteers with no history of lucid dreaming. The subjects went to sleep and eventually dreamed. Then, researchers turned on a 30-second-long electrical signal and then woke them up and asked them about their experiences. It turned out that a 40 Hz stimulation induced lucid dreams 77 percent of the time.

You can’t objectively measure a dream, though. So how did researchers know that the subjects weren’t just making it up? For one, the electrical stimulation was gentle enough that people couldn’t feel it, and some people were in a control group that had electrodes that never got turned on. Also, the study was double-blind: neither the volunteers nor the people who interviewed them were told who had what kind of stimulation. So it does seem that the effects were real.

via Scientists find switch for people to control their dreams – Vox.

8 thoughts on “Scientists find switch for people to control their dreams – Vox

  1. I am a totally blind person, and I also suffer from Meniere’s disease, an inner ear disorder, and chronic, untreatable cluster headaches. I have been learning about this tech for a long time, and if I could see I would have built myself a tDCs device already. Of course, I can see numerous posibilities for a tACs device, such as brainwave entrenment, alongside with the already established tCDs effects. If you could build me one of these devices, I would be more than grateful.

    • Sorry Ken, I’m not in a position to build you a tACS device. If anyone reading this is they can contact me for your email address. Best, John

  2. Hi, I’ve been wanting to lucid dream regularly for years, and was very excited to hear that this is possible with tACS. Being an electrical engineer, I was planning on developing my own for personal use. Since there is a patent out for it already, I wouldn’t be able to bring it to market unfortunately. That being said. If anyone would like me to build you one as well I would be open to it!

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