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Updated: Jun 8, 2025

Measuring Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation During Naps in Early Childhood
Published on: October 2, 2019
New strategies for the cognitive science of dreaming
Remington Mallett1, Karen R Konkoly2, Tore Nielsen3
1Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Abstract:
Dreams have long captivated human curiosity, but empirical research in this area has faced significant methodological challenges. Recent interdisciplinary advances have now opened up new opportunities for studying dreams. This review synthesizes these advances into three methodological frameworks and describes how they overcome historical barriers in dream research. First, with observable dreaming, neural decoding and real-time reporting offer more direct measures of dream content. Second, with dream engineering, targeted stimulation and lucidity provide routes to experimentally manipulate dream content. Third, with computational dream analysis, the generation and exploration of large dream-report databases offer powerful avenues to identify patterns in dream content. By enabling researchers to systematically observe, engineer, and analyze dreams, these innovations herald a new era in dream science.
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