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Review
. 2024 Dec;28(12):1105-1117.
doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.004. Epub 2024 Nov 4.

New strategies for the cognitive science of dreaming

Remington Mallett  1 , Karen R Konkoly  2 , Tore Nielsen  3 , Michelle Carr  3 , Ken A Paller  2
Affiliations
Review

New strategies for the cognitive science of dreaming

Remington Mallett et al. Trends Cogn Sci. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Dreams have long captivated human curiosity, but empirical research in this area has faced significant methodological challenges. Recent interdisciplinary advances have now opened up new opportunities for studying dreams. This review synthesizes these advances into three methodological frameworks and describes how they overcome historical barriers in dream research. First, with observable dreaming, neural decoding and real-time reporting offer more direct measures of dream content. Second, with dream engineering, targeted stimulation and lucidity provide routes to experimentally manipulate dream content. Third, with computational dream analysis, the generation and exploration of large dream-report databases offer powerful avenues to identify patterns in dream content. By enabling researchers to systematically observe, engineer, and analyze dreams, these innovations herald a new era in dream science.

Keywords: dreams; memory; natural language processing; neuroscience; sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests K.A.P. is a consultant for NextSense, Inc. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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