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Brain Sciences
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Dreaming and Sleep-Related Metacognitions
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Recent Advances in Dreaming and Sleep-Related Metacognitions

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Behavioral Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2024) | Viewed by 944

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sergio A. Mota-Rolim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Brain Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, RN, Brazil
Interests: sleep; dreams; lucid dreaming; consciousness; philosophy of mind
Dr. Brigitte Holzinger

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Institute for Consciousness and Dream Research, Vienna, Austria
2. Sleep Coaching, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Interests: sleep; sleep research; sleep disorders; insomnia treatment; dream research; lucid dreaming research; nightmare research; nightmare treatment
Dr. Michael Nadorff

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA
Interests: nightmares; nightmare treatment; suicidal behavior; aging; behavioral sleep medicine
Prof. Dr. Luigi De Gennaro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Roma, Roma, Italy
Interests: sleep; local sleep; aging; homeostasis; cortico-hippocampal networks; Alzheimer's disease; sleep onset; dreaming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dreams have always fascinated humans. The first civilizations interpreted dreams in a supernatural way, such as the Oracle of Delphi, and most religions recognize dreams as a way to communicate with God to understand the present and predict the future. This changed with Freud´s book “The Interpretation of Dreams”, which was the first attempt to understand dreams as a natural brain process. Nowadays, dreams can be defined as any mental activity that occurs during all human sleep stages, with specific characteristics.

Despite the scientific advances, we still do not know why we dream, and why some people remember dreams every day, while others only rarely. Modern theories such as the continuity hypothesis and the threat simulation theory cannot explain all oneiric features. Recently, an increase in nightmares was observed after the COVID-19 outbreak. Alongside that, in modern societies, smartphones force people to sleep later, but they still need to wake up early. Since REM sleep happens mainly in the final hours of sleep, we are deprived of it. Recent studies have shown that REM sleep is associated with emotion regulation, thus the recent increase in anxiety and depression may be associated with dream deprivation.          

In this Special Issue, we aim to provoke and articulate ideas to foster a broad discussion on dream research. We encourage authors to submit original research, reviews and essays, from basic research to clinical studies analyzing all kinds of dreams, such as nightmares, false awakenings, lucid dreams, recurrent dreams, etc. We believe that this interaction can be positive and foster our understanding of dreams and human consciousness.

Dr. Sergio A. Mota-Rolim
Dr. Brigitte Holzinger
Dr. Michael Nadorff
Prof. Dr. Luigi De Gennaro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sleep
  • dream
  • lucid dreaming
  • nightmare
  • recurrent dream
  • REM sleep
  • false awakening
  • REM sleep behavior disorder

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

23 pages, 881 KiB  
Review
Neuropsychopharmacological Induction of (Lucid) Dreams: A Narrative Review
by Abel A. Oldoni, André D. Bacchi, Fúlvio R. Mendes, Paula A. Tiba and Sérgio Mota-Rolim
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(5), 426; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14050426 - 25 Apr 2024
Viewed by 206
Abstract
Lucid dreaming (LD) is a physiological state of consciousness that occurs when dreamers become aware that they are dreaming, and may also control the oneiric content. In the general population, LD is spontaneously rare; thus, there is great interest in its induction. Here, [...] Read more.
Lucid dreaming (LD) is a physiological state of consciousness that occurs when dreamers become aware that they are dreaming, and may also control the oneiric content. In the general population, LD is spontaneously rare; thus, there is great interest in its induction. Here, we aim to review the literature on neuropsychopharmacological induction of LD. First, we describe the circadian and homeostatic processes of sleep regulation and the mechanisms that control REM sleep with a focus on neurotransmission systems. We then discuss the neurophysiology and phenomenology of LD to understand the main cortical oscillations and brain areas involved in the emergence of lucidity during REM sleep. Finally, we review possible exogenous substances—including natural plants and artificial drugs—that increase metacognition, REM sleep, and/or dream recall, thus with the potential to induce LD. We found that the main candidates are substances that increase cholinergic and/or dopaminergic transmission, such as galantamine. However, the main limitation of this technique is the complexity of these neurotransmitter systems, which challenges interpreting results in a simple way. We conclude that, despite these promising substances, more research is necessary to find a reliable way to pharmacologically induce LD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Dreaming and Sleep-Related Metacognitions)
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