Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is the unique state of dreaming during which one is conscious of dreaming while still dreaming (Bootzin, Kihlstrom & Schacter, 1990, p. 36). Lucid dreaming has some features of the waking state and some features of the rapid eye movement (commonly termed REM) stage of sleep, and therefore is a hybrid state.

The paradox of lucid dreaming is normally a rare experience. Most people can recall having a lucid dream at least once during their lives, but some people, about 20 percent of the population, report having a lucid dream once a month or more often (Bootzin, Kihlstrom & Schacter, 1990, p. 109). Due to the existence of contradictory research evidence, some be

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culture people are not taught to dream. The authors make a comparison between the skill of language acquisition and the skill of dreaming. How many people would speak if they were not taught to speak. Dreaming skill is largely left to chance, and it is the exceptional individual who seeks out information about ways to understand and influence the dreaming process. In connection with lucid dreams, the emotions felt are real. The events may be illusory, but the feelings in response to dream content are real. When one experiences feelings of anxiety or ecstasy in the dreams, the actual emotions of anxiety or ecstasy are experienced at the time. It is also assumed that if one is engaged in motor activity during the dream, such as walking around the room, the motor areas of the brain would be activated in the same pattern that is activated in actual walking, although possibly to a lesser degree. In the area of perception and spinal involvement, dream images are usually much less vivid than actual perception. How real something seems is probably a function of the intensity of neural activation. When one is awake, sensory input produces a high level of activation, and imagination produces a rather low level of activation. I
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Approximate Word count = 2417
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)