Scientists on Sunday said they had used an electrical current to modify sleep so that an individual has “lucid dreams,” a particularly powerful form of dreaming.
The discovery provides insights into the mechanism of dreaming and may one day help treat mental illness and post-trauma nightmares, they said.
In lucid dreaming, a state believed to be unique to humans, elements of secondary consciousness combine with REM (rapid eye moment) dreams.
A characteristic is that the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is sometimes able to control the dream’s plot. They may dream, for instance, of putting an aggressor to flight or of averting a catastrophic accident.
