Schedule of Events | Symposia

When does an external sound become part of a dream? An exploration of EEG predictors, real-time signals, sleep stage, and temporal factors

Poster Session E - Monday, March 31, 2025, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Daniel Morris¹ (danielmorris2027@u.northwestern.edu), Gabriela Torres-Platas¹, Karen Konkoly¹, Tashi Lhamo¹, Tenzin Tenkyong², Stanzin Wangden³, Lobsang Wangdue⁴, Dorji Lotus⁵, Sonam Damdul⁶, Lhundup Choeden², Amchok Lobsang⁷, Ken Paller¹; ¹Northwestern University, ²Sera Mey Monastery, ³Drepung Gomang Monastery, ⁴Rato Monastery, ⁵Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, ⁶Drepung Loseling Monastery, ⁷Gaden Shartse Monastery

External stimuli occasionally make their way into a dream, based on dream recall after awakening. Many stimuli do not, perhaps because their intensity is not optimal, or because sensory information is gated during sleep. Attention may also be relevant; a strong attentional focus on dream content may detract from sensory processing. Furthermore, experiences during sleep are often quickly forgotten, especially during the sleep-to-wake transition. Here, we implemented multiple methods of probing sleepers’ perceptual experiences to test the degree to which sensory perception persists during sleep. First, we awoke sleepers at varying delays following auditory stimulus presentation, allowing us to test the degree to which retrospective reporting on sensory perception during sleep is temporally limited. Second, we asked sleepers to respond to sounds via breathing signals that can be executed even while sleeping, such as sniffing. These real-time responses allowed us to probe conscious perception directly during sleep, overcoming the memory disruption that can occur during the transition from sleep to wakefulness. We collected data from 20 participants using a serial-awakening protocol with a total of 124 awakenings (both from NREM and REM sleep). In ongoing analyses, we characterize the prevalence of accurate sensory perception across sleep stages and seek to identify the neural correlates of sensory perception during sleep. Along with our quantitative results, we also interpret our findings in relation to ideas from the Tibetan-Buddhist philosophical tradition, integrating the interdisciplinary expertise of our research team, which includes six Tibetan monastic scholar-scientists.

Topic Area: OTHER