Conquering the Dream State: A recent Milestone may prove so
Lucid dreams have often been approached with a sense of mysticism and wonder due to our inability to discernibly measure exactly what occurs when we enter that state. Yes, we can measure brain activity that determines how active our brains are during said lucid dream state. However, we have had no way of measuring or translating images, messages, and words within a dream state, until now.
The REM phase has been measured as the period of sleep with the highest brain activity for an individual
On September 24th, a California startup named REMspace conducted an experiment that led to two individuals communicating with each other while in a lucid dream state. For those unaware, REM (or Rapid Eye Movement) is a sleep phase categorized by temporarily paralyzed muscles and increased brain activity. The REM phase has been measured as the period of sleep with the highest brain activity for an individual. During this REM phase, individuals are often aware that they are dreaming and can at times control their dreams. Through advanced neurotechnology, REMspace has aimed to push the limitations of human and dream communication.
“Facial Electromyographya is a sophisticated measurement tool that allows researchers to uncover subtle emotional components and thus deepen our understanding of emotion-related phenomena that occur in face-to-face social interaction (e.g. facial mimicry). It can also add to our knowledge of the experience and expression of emotions through faces, such as fine-grained temporal characteristics of facial emotional signalling.”
- National Library of Medicine
Though they did remain vague on the specific type of technology being used, REMspace did confirm that they developed an advanced sensory system and language named ‘Remmo’. This system and language is able to be read by devices through facial electromyographya. It must be noted that Wi-Fi and server technology were also used within the experiment.
The experiment itself was conducted by placing two individuals in separate households. Both individuals would be attached to an apparatus capable of reading their brain waves. While sleeping, the server would determine through brain activity who has entered the lucid dream state first. Person one would fall into the lucid dream state first. Once the server determined that person one was in the lucid dream state, the server would send a single word message to person one through earphones that were also attached to the apparatus. Person one would then repeat the word and in doing so, the server would capture this message and store it. While attached to another apparatus operating on the same server, person two would enter the lucid dream state around eight minutes later. While in the lucid dream state, person two would receive the message sent from person one and repeat it upon waking up. The experiment was conducted and ran to success two more times to prove it’s validity.
The next step in the experimentation process according to REMspace is to develop a way for the participants to communicate in real time via the lucid dream state.
Here is a video developed by REMspace to further explain the experiment.
