Stephen LaBerge (born 1947) is an American

psychophysiologist Psychophysiology (from Greek , ''psȳkhē'', "breath, life, soul"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology ...

specializing in the scientific study of

lucid dreaming In the psychology subfield of oneirology, a lucid dream is a type of dream wherein the dreamer realizes that they are dreaming during their dream. The capacity to have lucid dreams is a trainable cognitive skill. During a lucid dream, the dreamer ...

. In 1967 he received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. He began researching lucid dreaming for his Ph.D. in psychophysiology at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, which he received in 1980. He developed techniques to enable himself and other researchers to enter a lucid dream state at will, most notably the MILD technique ( mnemonic induction of lucid dreams), which was used in many forms of dream experimentation. In 1987, he founded The Lucidity Institute, an organization that promotes research into lucid dreaming, as well as running courses for the general public on how to achieve a lucid dream. In the early 1980s, news of LaBerge's research using the technique of signalling to a collaborator monitoring his

EEG Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The bio signals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neoc ...

with agreed-upon eye movements during REM helped to popularise lucid dreaming in the American media. ''Wired'' magazine referred to him as the "

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

of lucid dreaming".

Research results

Results from LaBerge's lab and others include: *comparison of subjective sense of time in dreams versus the waking state using eye signals *comparison of electrical activity in the brain when singing while awake, and while in a dream *various studies comparing physiological sexual arousal and in-dream sex and orgasm

Lucid dreaming education and facilitation

LaBerge developed a series of devices to help users enter a lucid state while dreaming. The original device was called a DreamLight, which was discontinued in favor of the NovaDreamer, designed by experienced lucid dreamer Craig Webb for the Lucidity Institute while he worked there and participated in lucid dreaming research at Stanford. As of 2013 it was not possible to purchase these devices from the Lucidity Institute website. An improved version, the ''NovaDreamer II'', is a mask with flashing lights that measures eye movement. All of the devices consist of a mask worn over the eyes with

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

s positioned over the eyelids. The LEDs flash whenever the mask detects that the wearer has entered REM sleep. The stimulus is incorporated into the wearer's dreams and can be recognised as a sign that they are dreaming.Lucid Dreaming Frequently Asked Questions Answered by The Lucidity Institute
/ref> LaBerge currently lectures at universities and other professional institutions, and hosts lucid dreaming sessions at various locations.

Bibliography

LaBerge has produced several books and tapes about lucid dreaming. * * *

References

External links

The Lucidity Institute (Web Archive)
* LaBerge, S. (1980). Lucid dreaming: An exploratory study of consciousness during sleep. (Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University, 1980), (University Microfilms No. 80-24, 691) {{DEFAULTSORT:LaBerge, Stephen 21st-century American psychologists American psychology writers American male non-fiction writers American self-help writers Dream researchers Lucid dreams Sleep researchers Stanford University alumni 1947 births Living people Oneirologists 20th-century American psychologists