LoicB - Lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis.pdf

Presentation about sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming. Demystifying the concepts in an neuroscientific setup.

1. Lucid Dreaming and
sleep paralysis
Loic Botrel
www.linkedin.com/in/loic-botrel
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel 1

2. Definition
Lucid dreaming
A dream in which the sleeper is aware that he or she
is dreamingand is sometimes able to control or
influence the course of the dream.(Oxford dictionary)
More criterias (Tholey and Utecht, 1987)
-Awareness of freedom of decision
-Memory of the waking state
-Full intellectual abilities
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel 2
Oxford dictionary

3. Lucid dreaming as a phenomenon
•350BC -Aristotle On Dreams. Aristotle writes,
“when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness
which tells us that what presents itself is but a dream.”
•Sir Thomas Browne (Religio Medici, 1643 ):
„yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold
the action, apprehend the jests and laugh my self awake at
the conceits thereof”
•Marie-Jean-Léon Le Coq (Dreams and the ways to
direct them: practical observations, 1867)
•Describes own experiences and states everyone can
learn it
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4. Origin of the term lucid
•Frederik W Van Eeden
A Study of Dreams, Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 1913
“[…] I made my observations during normal deep and healthy
sleep, and that in 352 cases I had a full recollection of my
daylife, and could act voluntarily, though I was so fast asleep
that no bodily sensations penetrated intomy perception. […]
it was just this form of dream, which I call "lucid dreams,“…
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5. •Hearne (Thesis 1978) „Lucid dreams : an elecro-
physiological and psychological study”
•Multiple reports e.g. Induced lucid dreams (LD) to the
participants by using the smell of lemon and electrical
shocks
•Markers or lucid dreamings: strong ocular signals
•One participant could alter his breathing during LD
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6. Hypnogram
6
Thank you wikipedia
Stage 1 to stage 4 sleep -> EEG synchronization and slowing down,
immobilization of the muscles
REM sleep -> occurs initialyafter stage 4 deep sleep, then shallow, often
followed by “micro-awakenings”
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

7. Hearne‘s ocular markers
7
EMG
EOG
EEG
REM SLEEPDEEP SLEEP OCULAR
SIGNALS
-> LUCID
DREAM
AWAKENING
5 sec
Hearnes1978
Using Polysomnography (monitoring activity of eyes, muscle, respiratory,
heart and brain electrical activity)
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

8. Compared to a recent study
8
Voss et al. 2009
Comparing REM and Lucid dream
WEC = Wake with eye closed
REM = Rapiedeye movement

9. Theories facing lucid dreaming (LD)
•Structural and biological theories of dreams in relation to
LD (as mentioned by Zink & Pietrovsky2015)
•Random Activation (Hobson & McCarley1977)
-> Dreaming is a synthesis of random cerebral activation
•Reverse Learning (Crick & Mitchison, 1983)
•-> Dream is a process to forget unnecessary information
•AIM model Hobson, (Stickgoldand Pace-Schott 1988)
•-> please read the review, it’s just a model !
•Continuity hypothesis (Domhoff1996)
•-> dreams reflect previous life experiences
•-> lucidity in all dreams but lucidity and non-lucidity being the two ends
•Protoconsciousness(Hobson 2009)
•->Waking and dreaming states cooperate and have a functional interplay.
LD is only an overlapping of both into a “hybrid” state
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10. MORE THEORIES !!!
Evolutionariesand Adaptive theories of dreams (as mentioned by Zink & Pietrovsky2015)
•Psychoanalytic
Freud -> Censorship prevents dreams to directly reach consciousness and
have tobe modified
Jung -> Dreams communicate via symbols to give a meaning to our lives
•Others out of topic
Costly signaling function (dreams represent an emotional burden)
Sentinel function:prepares us to predators in the surroundings
•Problem solving
-> dreams instantiate situations to help solving current/recalled/anticipated
situations
•Psychological healing
-> dreams helps adjusting in normal life. Promotes coping and psychological
well being, trauma recovery
•Simulation functions
-> Simulation, “play” and social interaction stimulation
-> Threat simulation
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11. Amplifiers of lucidity
•Meditation
•Meditators have very high degree of lucidity (Gackenbach1992, and many other studies)
•Electronic media (Gackenbach& Karpen1996)
•Hear “video games”: continuous access to virtual realities
•Frequent video game players report more LD (Gackenbach2006)
•gaming may be associated with metacognitive dimension of the
lucid dream (Kurvilla2013)
11
Zink & Pietrovsky2015
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

12. Intrinsic methods to induce lucidity
•LaBergeand Dole (1992) 2 methods to start a LD:
•Dream Initiated Lucid Dream (DILD)
LD is initatedfrom within the dream
•Wake Initiated Lucid Dream (WILD)
Awareness stays from wake to LD
•Promising methodes
•Mnemonic Induced LD (MILD) (LaBerge)
•stimulating memory by recalling dreams + reality check
•Tholey’scombined technique (reality check + intention +
autosuggestion)
•Other isolated techniques not proven
•Reality testing, Intention, autosuggestion, post hypnotic
suggestion, Alpha feedback, Dream re-entry
12
Zink & Pietrovsky2015
see Stumbryset al. 2012
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

13. La Berge 1980
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•Motivation and MILD induces lucid dreaming
La Berge, 1980
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

14. Exogenous stimulation to trigger LD
•Visual stimulation (LaBerge1988)
•Using donepezil (acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, treatment for Alzheimer’s disease,
improves cognition)
•Accoustic, vibrotactileand vestibular less successful
•Water stimulation not successful
•And tACS! (but we will talk about it in a short moment)
14
Zink & Pietrovsky2015
see Stumbryset al. 2012
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

15. fMRI comparison REM vs lucid
15
Precuneushas a central role in “visuospatial imagery, episodic memory retrieval, self-
processing operations, namely first person taking and experience of agency” Cavannaet al., 2006
Sensory perceptions Language
Inferior/middle/Superior frontal gyrus (the frontal lobe itself is about 1/3
rd
of the cortex):
related to cognitive execution
“Theposterior middle temporal gyrus and inferior
frontal gyrus are two critical nodes of the brainʼslanguage network Acheson and Hagoort2013
Goldberg et al. 2006
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

16. EEG comparison REM vs Lucid
16
WEC = Wake with eye closed
POT = potentials
CSD = source density
Increased 40Hz low gamma
activity during lucid dreaming as
compared to REM
Voss et al. 2009
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17. Voss et al. 2014
17
27 healthy volunteers, Never experienced
LD, double blind
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18. Results
Grand average FFT power ratios of activity during tACS(phase II) versus activity before
stimulation (phase I) for the different stimulation conditions
18
Voss et al. 2014
Regarding subjective ratings of lucidity, lucid dreams were most prominent during
stimulation with 25 (58%) and 40 Hz (77%)
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

19. Conclusion about Lucid dreaming
•Lucid dreaming is self-awareness of dreaming
•but this definition is unclear about cognitive abilities, source of
the inputs (endo/exteroception)
•Lucidity appears to be a continuum more than a on/off switch
state
•Lucid dreaming involves areas linked with self-reflection
and cognitive execution
•With a bit of training, it is possible to trigger LD !
•If you are lazy, there is tACS
•Interesting for recurrent dreams and PTSD therapy
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20. Lucid dreaming is the bright part
•Lucid dreams allow you to ride poneys
•Lucidity is interoceptiveand guided by imagination. What
if you acquire partial or full exteroceptionduring sleep ?
•Have you heard about sleep paralysis ?
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21. Sleep paralysis (SP)
Cheyne et al., 1999 (review)
•Transient conscious state of involuntary immobility
occurring immediately prior to falling asleep or upon
wakening and is classified as parasomnia associated with
REM (American Sleep Disorder Association 1990)
•Prevalence 7.6% of people 28.3% of students, and 31.9%
of psychiatric patients have >1 SP (Sharplessand Barber, 2011)
•Sleep paralysis experience linked with hypnagogic
(Hallucinations) and hypnopompic (emotional and
credulous dreaming) experiences (HHEs)
-> well, I’m not impressed
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22. Hypnagogic Hypnopompic Experiences
22
•Fear experienced 90% of the time
(Cheyne et al., 1999). Experiences are:
•Acute sence of a monitoring evil
presence
•Combination of auditory and visual
hallucinations
•Pressure on the chest, choking
•Floating, OBE, flying sensations
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

23. Knock knock…
•HHEs might be the cause of many succubus/incubus assaults, spirit posessions, old hag
attacks, ghostly visitations and alien abductions
•In German mare (hexendruecken, alpdruck), French: „Cauche-mar“, english „Night-mare“
23
Source: deviantart.com
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

24. Some more illustrations
24Source: deviantart.comJuly 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

25. SP and REM
•Sleep paralysis related to REM sleep (Hishikawa& Kanedo
1965)
•REM and wake overlap
•Cholinergic sleep ON populations hyperactivated
•Noradrenergic/Serotoninergic sleep OFF populations in the
pons
•REM has a weak sensory processing (Llinas& Pare, 1991)
•SP no blocking of exteroceptiveperception (Hishikawa, 1976)
•General atonia, Hyperpolarization of spinal motoneurons
(Chase & Morales, 1989)
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26. External agent
•The threatening presence is generated by sensed
presence with initial fear (Cheyne et al., 1999)
•When the time goes on, more hallucination occurs
(footsteps, whispering, voices, apparitions…)
•Suffocation/pressure on the chest might be due to
the unabilityto breathe deeply
-> Rationalizing inexplainedexperience by
introducing an external agent into the scene
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27. Classification attempt of SPs
•Using the Waterloo Sensory Experiences Survey
•1 question about the frequencies of SP (1: never, 2:once, 3: two-
five times, 4:more) 7 pointlikertscale for other questions
27
Cheyne et al. 1999
(28% of the initial undergraduate sample)
Factor Loadings for HHEs and Factor Variance
Percentages for WWW and Student Samples
3 orthogonal factors found using varimaxrotation,
each accounting for 15-20% of the variance
Named: intruder, experiences, incubus
GFI > 90% for 2 and 3 factor models
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

28. How to explain these factors
•Intruder begins with brain-stem induced activation of the
amygdala: hypervigilant state (Eysenck, 1992) with biased threshold
for danger, and delayed cortical analysis(Ledoux, 1994, 1996)
•Incubus reflects REM respiration, particularly rapid and
shallow breating, airway occlusion (Douglas, 1994). Missed attemps
to breathe deeply are interpreted as pressure or choking
(Hishikawa& Shimizu, 1995)
In the study, only 13 person (only women) reported sexual
assault during SP
•Floating and OBE associated with activation of vestibular
neurons by the pontine tegmentum (Peterson et al. 1976)
With no motor input, the activation is interpreted as floating
•Can be associated with fear (Devinskyet al. 1989) or with bliss (Twemlowet
al., 1982)
28
Cheyne et al. 1999
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

29. Preventing Episodes of SP
•Sharplessand Grom, 2016
•2264 Students given Fearful Isolated Sleep Paralysis
Interview -> 160 reported at least one ISP episode (7%)
•19% tried to prevent ISPs
•69% tried to disrupt ISPs, with half finding their method
successful
29Sharplessand Grom, 2016July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel

30. Conclusion about Sleep paralysis
•Sleep paralysis is a form of lucid dreaming, but with high
exteroception
•Sleep paralysis can be classified in 3 classses:
•Intruder: sensed presence
•Experiences: hallucinations
•Incubus: chest pressure
•Sleep paralysis triggers intense vivid hallucinations,
resulting in fear
•Prevention and disruption techniques are not optimaland
more research could be needed on this
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31. Thanks for listening
•Any questions ?
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32. Main References
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•Zink, N., & Pietrowsky, R. (2015). Theories of dreaming and lucid dreaming: An integrative
review towards sleep, dreaming and consciousness.InternationalJournal of Dream
Research,8(1), 35-53.
•La Berge 1978. PhD Thesis
•La Berge, S. P. (1980). Lucid dreaming as a learnable skill: A case study.Perceptualand
Motor Skills,51(3 suppl2), 1039-1042.
•Dresler, M., Wehrle, R., Spoormaker, V. I., Koch, S. P., Holsboer, F., Steiger, A., ... & Czisch,
M. (2012). Neural correlates of dream lucidity obtained from contrasting lucid versus non-
lucid REM sleep: a combined EEG/fMRI case study.Sleep,35(7), 1017-1020.
•Voss, U., Holzmann, R., Tuin, I., & Hobson, J. A. (2009). Lucid dreaming: a state of
consciousness with features of both waking and non-lucid dreaming.Sleep,32(9), 1191-
1200.
•Voss, U., Holzmann, R., Hobson, A., Paulus, W., Koppehele-Gossel, J., Klimke, A., & Nitsche,
M. A. (2014). Induction of self awareness in dreams through frontal low current
stimulation of gamma activity.Nature neuroscience,17(6), 810-812.
•Cheyne, J. A., Rueffer, S. D., & Newby-Clark, I. R. (1999). Hypnagogic and hypnopompic
hallucinations during sleep paralysis: neurological and cultural construction of the night-
mare.Consciousness and Cognition,8(3), 319-337.
•Sharpless, B. A., & Grom, J. L. (2016). Isolated sleep paralysis: fear, prevention, and
disruption.Behavioral sleep medicine,14(2), 134-139.
July 8, 2016 GK Emotions‘ Journal Club Talks - Loic Botrel