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The study's first author, Karen Konkoly, watches a laboratory monitor. Image courtesy of Stephanie Kulke, Northwestern University

Communicating with a dreaming person is possible

<p>Chris Mazurek was a freshman in college when he had a dream that he was inside the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyzyMcgCS1E">Legends of Zelda</a> video game. He saw himself as the main protagonist, Link, in third person. </p><p>Suddenly, beeping noises came from inside the game. </p><p>“That was my cue,” Mazurek says.</p>
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<p>In reality, Mazurek was napping on a bed inside a laboratory during his third session of being induced into a lucid dream (in which you are aware, while dreaming, that what you are experiencing is in fact a dream) by a research team at Northwestern University in 2019. He was one of 36 participants in an international experiment that aimed to establish communication between the sleeping and awake. </p><p>Northwestern’s research team had asked Mazurek to signal to them—while asleep—that he was having a lucid dream. Mazurek was to do this by moving his eyes left to right three times as quickly as he could. The team then asked Mazurek a simple math equation through a speaker: What is eight minus two?</p><p>Still asleep, he moved his eyes back and forth, and gave “six” as his answer. </p><p>“Answering them, I was half-dreaming I was in the video game and half where I was still in the lab,” Mazurek says. “When I heard the math problem cue [in the dream], I realized I must still be asleep.” </p><h3>Dialogue between experimenters and dreamers</h3><p>On Thursday, Northwestern’s team—along with three other independent teams in France, the Netherlands, and Germany—released their findings suggesting that two-way communication with someone in a lucid dream is possible. Their work, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00059-2">published Thursday in the journal <i>Current Biology</i></a>, sheds light on the role lucid dreaming has in communicating with a sleeping person while they’re in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep.</p><p>“My question was: ‘Can the awareness of a lucid dream extend to the outside world?’” says Emma Chabani, study author and member of the Brain and Spine Institute at Sorbonne University in France. “I wanted to know if, during this stage of sleep, it was possible to hear the outside world.”</p><p>Chabani defines lucid dreaming as the awareness of being in one’s dream, “with reflexive thoughts on [one’s] inner world.” For those who’ve experienced one or more lucid dreams, it can feel as if one’s awake inside their dream—consciously aware that they’re dreaming while remaining asleep.</p><p>Though the Northwestern and European teams didn’t initially know they were working on the same subject, they eventually began partnering, attempting to streamline their methods. First, the researchers trained study participants to communicate to the researchers with eye movements if they were successful in achieving lucid sleep. These included participants confirming that they were having a lucid dream by answering “yes” when prompted by an audio or visual stimulation. Then, in a total of 56 sessions under electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement, participants were given roughly 90 minutes to nap. </p><p>The communication tactics involved were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M06fJxiayo&amp;t=2s">captured in exclusive footage by NOVA’s Greg Kestin</a>, Harvard physicist and host of the YouTube series <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj1gfrsi8H8zTrmR0ft1Kjw">What the Physics?!</a> The footage includes electrophysiological signals—both aural and visual signals once REM was confirmed—beginning with Northwestern’s research team asking participants to confirm whether they were having a lucid dream.</p>
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<p>The Northwestern study participants generally could confirm upon waking that they had lucidly dreamed. But some could not recall what was said or done. How participants <i>did</i> report hearing questions varied; some reported that the questions or cues came from something within the dream—perhaps through a radio or, in Mazurek’s case, a video game—whereas others, upon awakening, misreported the questions they had heard while dreaming. </p>
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<img alt="Mazurek, mid-test, and his EEG composite" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://staging.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/Mazurek_EEG_composite_16x9.width-990_BVQ0kWq.jpg"/>
<figcaption><p>Mazurek, mid-test, and his EEG composite, Image courtesy of Stephanie Kulke, Northwestern University</p>
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<p>Researchers call the initial cue, asking the sleeper to confirm they were in a lucid dream, the “reality check.” For Mazurek, that took place in Legends of Zelda. For another subject, as depicted in Kestin’s documentary, the “reality check” appeared as flashing lights upon her dreamed-up childhood house. The flashing lights were, in reality, coming from inside the laboratory room while she slept.</p>
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<h3>Lucid dreaming, particularly, makes two-way communication possible</h3><p>The REM stage of sleep has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11121/">long been studied</a> as the key area for dreaming. Because of its role in dreaming, the REM stage, previous research has found, is also a key element to allowing for successful two-way communication between an asleep person and an awake one. </p><p>But it’s just now that Chabani and her colleagues are discovering the potentially essential role that lucidity has in complex communication between the sleeping and the awake. Although <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260761277_Asleep_but_aware">previous studies</a> have suggested that communication to a sleeping person can cause a physical response (such as finger tapping), this study is the first to illustrate not only more complex communication (questions and answers) but recollection upon awakening. </p><p>Of the 57 total reported napping sessions conducted by all four research teams, 26% of the sessions resulted in a confirmed lucid dream. In almost half of those lucid dream sessions, participants answered at least one of the experimenters’ questions correctly. </p><p>In sessions where participants failed to signal they were experiencing a lucid dream, most participants also failed to respond to any of the researchers' other questions. Lucid dreaming, Chabani says, was the key to opening dreamers to receiving information, in that it allows sleepers to be more aware of the external world.</p><p>However, that meant that the stimulations from researchers—and the pre-sleep training—were key to bridging the distance between sleep and the external world created by REM-stage sleep.</p><p>“To be aware of external stimulation,” Chabani says, “the stimulation has to be clear enough and your attention must be directed to [it].”</p><p>Even before participating in the study, Mazurek had wanted to learn how to lucidly dream. But he found it difficult until his third and final session. “During the first trial,” he says, “the lucid dream quickly fell apart” after cueing from the experimenters. More exposure and training throughout the experiment, Mazurek says, gave him an “awareness” he believes is key to reaching a lucid state while dreaming.</p><p>Studies comparing subjects who have frequent lucid dreams to those who have had infrequent ones have found no difference between the psychology of subjects, she says. But they have identified differences in creativity and “metacognitions,” or one’s awareness of one’s own thoughts. “It is possible lucid dreaming is easier with the number of lucid dreams,” Chabani says. Increased creative thinking may help a sleeping person reach the lucid dreaming state, Chabani adds. </p><h3>The scientific—and recreational—applications of lucid dreaming</h3><p>Chelsea Mackey, a clinical psychology Ph.D. student at the University of Washington who was not involved in the study, finds the research to be an important contribution to neuroscience and to the idea of “interactive dreaming.” </p><p>“It aids our understanding of the complexity of sleep and dreams by integrating novel approaches to the study of two-way communication during sleep,” Mackey says. “It has critical implications for health and well-being.”</p><p>Now a junior at Northwestern majoring in neuroscience, Mazurek is working in the lab of study author Ken Paller. Paller and his team have developed a smartphone app called <a href="https://pallerlab.psych.northwestern.edu/dream">Lucid</a>, which trains users to achieve lucidity while asleep in a similar manner to Northwestern’s study participants. Once turned on, the app will wait six hours. Then, in an attempt to induce lucid dreaming in its user, it will play preset soft noises. Users are asked to fill out a dream report upon waking up to record their experiences.</p><p>Mazurek and his teammates are working on the second version of the app, which they’re hoping to release in April. </p><p>The early results have been promising: App users tend to have lucid dreams more often than other people, Mazurek explains. And the app increases lucid dreaming induction in 40% of its users, he says.</p><p>Historically, dream reporting has been fraught with difficulty, as many people cannot reliably or coherently recall a dream after waking up. That makes the ability to communicate with a person while they’re still sleeping so promising, Chabani believes. If we see something on a physiological level in a study participant that’s interesting, such as an acceleration in their heart rate, “we could ask a subject what is happening,” she says. Her team’s new study, Chabani hopes, can offer new insight into—and a better understanding of—the dreaming world. </p><p>Mackey agrees that the findings of the study are promising. While there is still a significant amount of work to be done in this area, she says, “this study does represent substantial progress toward identifying ways to leverage and gain valuable information from lucid dreams. I am thrilled to see future progressions on this topic.”</p><p>“If we’re able to get a technique down for lucid dream induction, the applications are wild and limitless,” Mazurek says. “There are a lot of different applications, whether lucid dreaming therapy or recreational enjoyment...I think it’s a bright future ahead.”</p><p></p><p><i>Hanna Ali contributing to the reporting of this story.</i></p>
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<p>A study from four independent teams report that lucid dreaming during the REM sleep stage allows for two-way communication.</p>

Five of NOVA's previous News and Documentary Emmy awards. Image credit: Sukee Bennett, WGBH

PBS series NOVA nominated for three 2020 Emmy Awards

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<p>The PBS science series NOVA has earned three nominations for the 41st Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. The films nominated showcase timely and inspiring science storytelling that span both time and space, illustrating what our solar system’s history reveals about our own planet and whether data-driven research into the history of human violence can inform new approaches to making the world a more peaceful place.</p><p>The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences made the announcement on Thursday, with PBS leading the list of networks with 48 nominations. NOVA’s nominated films include the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/series/planets/">five-part series <i>The Planets</i></a> in the Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary and Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction categories, and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-violence-paradox/"><i>The Violence Paradox</i></a> in the Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary category.</p><p>“<i>The Planets</i> thrilled millions of PBS viewers with dramatic stories of the life and times of our closest celestial neighbors,” said NOVA Co-Executive Producer Chris Schmidt. “We’re so delighted and proud that our peers in the National Academy have chosen to nominate this amazing series in both categories."</p>
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<p>Co-Executive Producer Julia Cort added: “<i>The Planets</i> and <i>The Violence Paradox</i> are two of our most ambitious projects, one revealing some of the greatest planetary discoveries of the last 50 years, and the other using scientific data to investigate some of the most controversial questions about human behavior. At a time when excellence in journalism and trusted science storytelling is perhaps more important than ever, we are truly honored that the National Academy has chosen to recognize our dedication to delivering the highest-quality programming to our audiences.”</p><p>The awards ceremony will take place on Sept. 22, 2020 and will be streamed online at <a href="https://watch.theemmys.tv/">watch.theemmys.tv</a> and on The Emmys apps. The full list of nominees can be found on the <a href="https://theemmys.tv/">National Television Academy’s website</a>.</p><p>Watch <i>The Planets: Inner Worlds</i> below:</p>
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<p>The network tops the list with 48 nominations.</p>

Facebook is shrinking our news feed reach. What’s next?

<p>Yesterday, Facebook <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/technology/facebook-news-feed.html">made official</a> what media companies around the world had been worrying about for months.</p><p>The tech giant confirmed that starting as early as next week, its News Feed would be updated to give higher affinity toward the posts of friends and groups while reducing the reach of pages, including publishers, businesses, and brands.</p><p>In short, Facebook users will see more posts from their personal network of friends and groups, and fewer posts from publishers and business pages they follow.</p>
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<p>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained some of the rationale behind the company’s dramatic shift in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10104413015393571?pnref=story">a post</a> Thursday evening, summarizing some of the changes users will notice:</p><p>“We started making changes in this direction last year, but it will take months for this new focus to make its way through all our products. The first changes you’ll see will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups. As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media.”</p><p>Although Facebook’s quick-fire tests and algorithm shifts have long kept media companies up at night, yesterday’s news created waves of commentary from the media industry, which had felt particularly strong winds of change since last year.</p><p>In December, the digital analytics company <a href="https://www.parse.ly/">Parse.ly</a> revealed <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/12/11/16748026/google-facebook-publisher-traffic-2017-increase">data that showed</a> that while Google increased its traffic to publishers by 17% in 2017, Facebook sent 25% less traffic to them.</p><p>In addition, Facebook <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/23/facebook-page-feed/">rolled out a test</a> in October that placed publishers from six countries behind a new “Explore” feed, outside of the standard News Feed that publishers rely on for substantial portions of their traffic. The company downplayed the impact of the test, <a href="https://media.fb.com/2017/10/23/clarifying-recent-tests/">ensuring pages</a> that “there is no current plan to roll this out beyond these test countries or to charge pages on Facebook to pay for all their distribution in News Feed or Explore.”</p><p>These changing tides amplified mounting concerns that the social platform would eventually begin reducing the reach—and as a result, engagement and site traffic—of media companies. And despite the promotion of products like Instant Articles, Live and Watch, as well as last year’s Facebook Journalism Project initiative, the common consensus was that Facebook’s traffic clock was ticking for everyone.</p><p>That this new change will dramatically impact media and publishing companies is unanimously unquestioned. Companies that rely on Facebook’s algorithm for a significant percentage of their traffic and engagement will find themselves in an existential crisis, while even those who do not actively rely on the platform, including NOVA, will see some of its effects.</p><p>Yesterday’s announcement made that a reality. Considering this new terrain, with nearly every media program in the country certain to be affected by this change (NOVA included), the question facing media companies now is this: Has their content created enough value to their audiences to weather technological shifts like these, and will that loyalty remain in the future?</p>
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<p>Like nearly every other company, we’re proud to have built a strong community on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NOVApbs/">Facebook</a> that engages with and learns from our content there, including educational outreach programs, short form videos, photos, Facebook Live events, and more. That said, this change has reemphasized the importance for us of not relying on any one company to remain deeply connected to our audience. <a href="http://now.eloqua.com/es.asp?s=2531&amp;e=782722&amp;elqTrackId=b8dd3405ab344b288acef47af0765615&amp;elq=392bf180408544b9abfbbd1cb39fdafa&amp;elqaid=4654&amp;elqat=1&amp;elqCampaignId=2425">This recent letter</a> from Senior Executive Producer Paula Apsell speaks to our interest in expanding—and listening to—our community.</p><p>Facebook is just one place for you to engage with us and discover the wonders of science that have motivated us for decades. By signing up for <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newsletters.html">our newsletters</a> (to subscribe to both NOVA and NOVA Lens, check “NOVA Newsletters” and then enter your email address and zip code here), or by following us on other platforms like <a href="https://twitter.com/novapbs">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/novapbs/">Instagram</a> , you’ll keep hearing from us for years to come.</p><p>As for Facebook users who prefer to keep certain pages in their News Feed, Adam Mosseri, Vice President of News Feed for Facebook, offered instructions in <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/news-feed-fyi-bringing-people-closer-together/">a post</a> :</p><p>“People who want to see more posts from Pages they follow can choose See First in News Feed Preferences to make sure they always see posts from their favorite Pages.”</p><p><b>If Facebook remains one of your favorite places to engage with NOVA, I highly recommend taking the small amount of time to configure those settings.</b></p><p>As the most-watched prime time science series on American television, we’re confident that, regardless of algorithmic shifts like this one, our audience will follow us online and engage with us on across multiple avenues. Thank you ahead of time for helping in our mission to promote science education and entertainment for each and every generation.</p><p>Dante Graves<br/>Director of Audience Development, NOVA</p>
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<p>Photo credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Zuckerberg_on_stage_at_Facebook%27s_F8_Conference_(15051609362).jpg">Maurizio Pesce / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)</a></p>

<p>Changes to Facebook&#x27;s algorithm creates mounting concerns that the social platform would eventually begin reducing the reach—and as a result, engagement and site traffic—of media companies.</p>

NOVA nominated for three 2019 Emmy Awards

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<p>The PBS series NOVA has earned three nominations for the 40th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. The three films nominated illustrate a variety of dynamic science and timely storytelling, including how Earth’s intricate climate system is changing, the efforts to understand organ donation and end shortage, and voyages to the most powerful and mysterious objects in the universe.</p><p>The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences made the announcement on Thursday, with PBS leading the list of networks with 47 nominations. NOVA’s nominated films include <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/decoding-the-weather-machine"><i>Decoding the Weather Machine</i></a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/transplanting-hope/"><i>Transplanting Hope</i></a> in the Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary category, and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/black-hole-apocalypse/"><i>Black Hole Apocalypse</i></a> in the Writing category.</p><p>“These three films demonstrate the incredible power of science to help us understand the universe we live in and solve problems,” said NOVA Co-Executive Producer Julia Cort. “We’re so proud of the filmmakers and grateful to the academy for recognizing the importance of science storytelling.”</p><p>Co-Executive Producer Chris Schmidt added: “These films all celebrate human curiosity and ingenuity at its very finest. It’s such an honor to be recognized, and we are grateful to PBS, CPB, and WGBH for their steadfast support.”</p>
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<p>The awards ceremony will take place on Sept. 24, 2019 in New York City. The full list of nominees are found on the National Television Academy’s <a href="https://emmyonline.tv/">website</a>.</p><p>Watch <i>Decoding the Weather Machine</i> and <i>Black Hole Apocalypse</i> below:</p>
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<p>PBS leads the list with 47 nominations.</p>

Articles

Communicating with a dreaming person is possible

PBS series NOVA nominated for three 2020 Emmy Awards

Facebook is shrinking our news feed reach. What’s next?

NOVA nominated for three 2019 Emmy Awards

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