Where is self-awareness located in the brain?
July 31, 2012
Specific areas of the brain are activated more strongly during lucid dreaming than in a normal dream, including these in the right hemisphere (credit: MPI of Psychiatry)
Neuroscientists from the Max Planck Institutes of Psychiatry in Munich, Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, and Charité in Berlin have identified a specific cortical network associated with self-awareness.
They used EEG and fMRI brain imaging to study “lucid dreamers,” who have access to their memories during dreaming and are aware of themselves, although remaining in a dream state and not waking up.
The researchers found neural activations in a specific network that is normally deactivated during REM sleep, comprising these areas:
- Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (associated with self-focused metacognitive evaluation)
- Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in combination with parietal lobules (may reflect working memory demands)
- Bilateral frontopolar areas (related to the processing of internal states, e.g., the evaluation of one’s own thoughts and feelings)
- Precuneus (implicated in self-referential processing, such as first-person perspective)
- Bilateral cuneus and occipitotemporal cortices (active in conscious awareness in visual perception)
Lucid dreamer entering MRI machine (credit: Max Planck Institutes)
The study was limited to only four subjects who were highly trained lucid dreamers ”due to the rarity of lucid dreaming in untrained subjects, the researchers report. “Only one of them became lucid twice under concurrent EEG/fMRI conditions, rendering our data a case study.” The researchers also advised that part of the observed activation may have originated from the eye-signaling and hand-clenching task performed during the lucid-dreaming process.
Comments (11)
by Steve Humphries
Nice to see that real science is performed to understand more about how information is processed by our brain. We have to begin somewhere to help us understand this thing we have called life. As electricity to a machine and electrons to a computer the electrical nature of our mind is far from being understood. Sometimes I also sence that consciousness is more than what is just inside my head. It is like a mind field that extends outward beyond me and rotates continually within itself. The bio auras can be seen by gifted people unfortunately I’m not one of them. Auras are also photographed with the Kirlian technique. This is an area that needs more R&D for real answers to who we really are and how we connect with our world. I like the quote I read a few weeks ago that the brain is not like a computer. It is like several supercomputers all networked together. Still a ways to go to bio-port our memories and dreams and down load education.
by Peter
These talents/abilities are not limited to people. Anyone who has spent much time observing animals will recognize these intuitions in them.
by Bri
It’s interesting , the difference between these FMRI, and the ones taken as anesthesia is taking effect. With sedation the first and last area was the brain stem. That is far more in line with my feelings. These scans appear more related to the tasks being performed, rather than where consciousness originates. Too many times I have been aware of things outside of the sensory inputs of the body, or any living thing to sense. Awareness can be independent of a body. There are things that I can do with this, that really difineatively puts this question to rest. I can’t write about it. In SN, Ray touches onto these ideas along the lines that you all take. My experience is contrary to most peoples beliefs. I tried to contact Ray in relation to this at ray@singularity.com, but I never received a response. All my posts are in relation to that attempt. The discussion between me and Ray would be totally private. None of you would know it’s outcome. It is a very reproducible proof. At some point I will let everyone know, but it’s not time yet. If Amara wishes to track down those emails, and set that into motion, she would be a good judge for vetting. If not, no biggie. I’ll bide my time. The person who said I could make a lot of money off my gifts is very right. More than they could dream. It’s not why it was given to me.its not why I’m here. Money is meaningless . All I can say is you are not your body. You illuminate it!
by John
Why do you need Ray to go on with your ideas? If they are worth a dime, you can work it out by yourself. Otherwise it doesn’t look serious.
by Bri
Truly I don’t. I lived in a Krishna temple for a while, money doesn’t have the same meaning to me that it does to you. For over thirty years I have hid what I see. You don’t know what’s happening. Doesn’t matter, we are all part of it. For Ray , it’s because of two issues. If he saw, it would change his perspective. If he’s not interested, it doesn’t change my plans.Doesn’t look serious? It would BE foolish if I wasn’t being truthful. When I hear Steven Hawkings say there is no god, its sad. Resigned to a bleak future. It’s not what will happen to him, or any of you. I could talk to the pope, Penrose, the president, I’m not interested. Two things that Ray said caught my attention. If I was successful with him, you all would never know. For all intents and purposes, I really still live in that temple. I really wish I could be more open, but I can’t. If that makes you not trust me, I really don’t care. You can ridicule me all you like. There are very valid reasons for my silence. It won’t last that much longer. You will recognize me, and it will make sense. Nearer than hands, nearer than feet, god is. As you do unto the least of you, you do to your maker. I’m not christian. Bagidvad Gita say’s it exactly as I’ve seen it, as I know it. I just have a reproducible way of proving it. Enough said, probably won’t bring it up again. We are coming into the knee of the curve. Soon everything will be in such a state of flux. Just try to trust in god and fear not. All that you used to know will change, in the most fundamental way.
by GatorALLin
I used to have more Lucid dreams when I was younger, so now I have to force them to occur and at least for me they wear me out for most of the next day (negatively effect my sleep pattern next 2-3 days). I have only had 1 of them in 2012 and only 3 in 2011, so they are quite rare for me now, even when trying to have them. I use them always to problem solve when i get stuck on a complicated problem (especially when thinking about inventions/products or creative ideas related to how products could be used in new/novel ways, or to envision futuristic scenarios of how to spread an idea or connect/market the idea to others). For me they are often high energy or fast/pure thinking and upbeat or positive flow of emotions (a bit like flying fast through a euphoric movie script). I can like a video recorder move the dream forward and back to replay things…and then try new scenarios (like making a movie, but with testing out ideas in different scenarios). I often put famous people in the dream who test the product or give me feedback or somehow are working with me to help me (Dr. Phil and Oprah or a list of other well known people you may see on TV are available like from a catalog listing). My ability to force this dreaming naturally is also seeming to drop off in the last 5 years (thus my purchase of a mask to help), I was able to get them to happen about 85% of the time when I pushed for it and now seems to be about 60% of the time when I try for it. For me there is also quite a bit of mental preparation. I have to have been thinking on the idea for 1-2 weeks already with a few 6-12 hour days of thinking mostly about the idea… then also thinking at least 2 hours solid about the idea 8-14 days in a row, then that night I want to Lucid Dream on it, I have to stay up very late thinking Only about the idea (maybe 3:30am) and make sure to get very tired as I get into bed. I often go to to sleep on my back and for some reason it helps to have the curve of your neck supported well, but still laying almost flat, laying otherwise like mummy position, arms to side or slightly crossed. I drink a full 12oz to 16oz of water (room temp, not cold water) before I climb into bed as this will wake me up to pee about 2-3 hours later. I then relax and go to sleep..I get about 2 hours of deep sleep (sometimes dreaming regularly with no connection to the idea, sometimes with threads of the idea in my sleep for this 2-3 hour period). I am then awakened by the uncomfortable need to pee (You can also set your alarm to wake you up instead of the water drinking trick, but alarm can be too strong a wake up, so maybe wake up to music vs. alarm). I get up and pee and then calmly get back in bed. I go back to same position of neck supported, eyes to the ceiling in mummy position and go back to sleep (this is where the lucid dreaming will start as I force the thoughts to be focused on the idea and problem solving). At first the ideas feel forced and then I feel it pull me into the flow of faster thinking and is followed with euphoric feeling or serotonin fueled (big long controlled breathing sometimes helps spark this euphoric feeling). I like to think of this more as a state of meditation or pure thought vs. Lucid dreaming… I can stay in this state for about 1-4 hours. Often the sun is just starting to come up soon, so with shades closed there is still some faint light increase to the room (too much light will wake you up, but a tiny bit of light does seem to keep you in this trance/meditation type zone). Make sure the alarm clock does not go off, or other major distraction as that will jolt you out of this state and then almost impossible to go back to. The dream state then goes very fast… like superhero thinking. There is no other normal distraction type thoughts that creep in and these dreams are always positive and controlled. Characters (like Oprah) you pick stay in character, but they can surprise you in creative positive ways so you are not really in control of what they say or react to….you can just ask them like helpers to try this..or that, but there is never any feeling that this is fake or just you thinking what they would say…it is as if they are 100% real characters in a movie with basic direction you give. Normally there is a tree like structure where you can back up and replay scenarios dozens of times…then move up (or down) the tree to try new scenarios or different ideas. I find that I normally start about half way up the scenario/idea tree…. push all the way to the top or both sides….then realize I can go down lower on the tree idea structure and that is often where the bigger or more creative/bold ideas come from (or seeing novel way that an old idea is now used in different ways, or mix of old and new ideas never put together before). By the end of this you may have tried 100 to 300 story-lines and 1-2 stick with you that often weave together in a straight line, or jump from end of branch to branch to connect, or even a few circle back to be a bit like spaghetti or even figure 8 like circular thinking. There is often 1 bigger “aha moment or new idea” and then a few smaller ones. It is almost like thinking of having a baby (the idea being the baby) and then watching it grow up 100-300 different ways… What if I moved the child grew up in 10 different parts of the world..what if it was poor, or rich, or had different parents, or was extra smart, or had a disability…or born way in the past, or distant future, or…. anyhow a bit hard to explain to others and I am not sure my thing is truly “Lucid Dreaming” but rather some type of meditation like trance or deep/focused speed thinking related to controlled dreaming. I wake up not wanting to leave the dream like zone… I wake up tired, yet with excitement and a bit of a rush to try and write stuff down on paper as not to forget anything as it can fade from memory to be lost. I don’t remember having the same basic lucid dream twice, so they seem one per main idea or thread.
Love to hear if others here do the same thing….or have had different types of forced Lucid dreaming to problem solve or other?
by sfoman
Hello. I found a lot of parallels in the way you lucid dream. I started to pursue a lucid dream state around the age of 14. It took a about 3 months accomplish. To directly initiate and ‘control’ the state. On first learning lucid dreaming it took its own direction and I could only observe and intervene just a little. All aware I was asleep but could awaken myself at any time. When I finally manage to learn how to preprogram and direct the state I used it primarily for fantasy escape and to explore social interactions with my teenage peers. Instead of a tree mine was a realm. This realm always felt familiar but made up from places I had seen or a utterly new one like being at my childhood home on another planet in some far off galaxy. I could fly above the area and view it as a 3d map. Either with one place of central interest or a path or many paths leading off in all directions. Points of destination known and unknown. With the path clearly visible or sometimes obscured by a hill or forest. The persons I would interact with could be someone I had known, the news, a movie or a complete stranger. I often kept to one path its people interactions. Just occasionally venturing down exploring other paths. Rewriting and reliving scenarios as they happened. Or simply choosing to avoid and ignore others. More often awakening with positive conclusions than not. Sometimes with a unfinished story.
Around 18 or 19 I stopped preprogramming a lucid dream state for a desired outcome. But this did not stop the occurrence of a spontaneously lucid dreaming. In the middle of the night or early morning I would suddenly be ‘aware’ and aware of being still asleep but in a lucid dream state. This continued on and off many years. I did not try to actively initiate and preprogram a lucid dream state again until my 30’s when my career became very enjoyable, exciting and interesting. I would use it to explore new assignments and roadblocks at work. Often the state would occur again on its own triggered by work related problem solving. I would awake in a lucid dream exploring avenues of problem solving. Or walking along sections of computer code while composing or rewriting it. Or flying thru a systems analyst and design. Or tiptoeing dataflow diagrams. Feeling I had worked a 8 hour day in the dream state absolutely okay with having done so. Now that I am in my 50’s and retired its back to spontaneous lucid dreaming as fantasy escape.
by GatorALLin
I thought these 2 kickstarter projects about lucid dreaming were cool.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitbangerlabs/remee-the-rem-enhancing-lucid-dreaming-mask?ref=live
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitbangerlabs/remee-the-rem-enhancing-lucid-dreaming-mask?ref=live
I am a fan of Lucid dreaming and would love to hear from others here who have had the experience (on purpose or by accident). I did order one of the masks above, but has not yet shipped out, so once I try it, I can report back here how it works for me.
by Gorden Russell
I’ve tried it, but I think there is something in my unconscious mind that wants to stay hidden. Once when I realized I was dreaming and took control, a giant cobra popped up and forced me to wake up. Yet since then, when a dream gets bad, I do sometimes realize that I am dreaming and try to change it. But this still often results in waking me up.
by vb
In the Eastern Spiritual traditions seeing snakes(especially king cobra) or being bitten by one in your dream/meditation is a sign of progress in your spiritual endeavors. Just a side note! :)
by ms
In the Western USA tradition, sitting on a snake that bites you on your rear end, is a test of your friendships. Who will suck out the poison for you?