The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up

Abstract

Neurobiologists and cognitive scientists are engaged in new efforts to establish the brain basis of consciousness. Progress in brain imaging and in quantitative EEG recording in humans and in unit recording in animals have all contributed to this progress.  But progress has been limited by the relative poverty of the paradigms used in these studies, many of which do not take subjective experience into account. One promising, but problematical paradigm, lucid dreaming, has recently been employed with encouraging and complimentary if preliminary results. It is the purpose of this paper to consider the pros and cons of this approach and to interpret the results of the new findings.