The Electrophysiological Landscape of Dreams

Projektinformationen

Dreamscape

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101039782

DOI

10.3030/101039782

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 11 Juli 2022

Startdatum 1 Januar 2023

Enddatum 31 Dezember 2027

Finanziert unter

• European Research Council (ERC)

Gesamtkosten

€ 1 748 906,00

EU-Beitrag

€ 1 748 906,00

Koordiniert durch

KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN - KNAW
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Dreamscape (The Electrophysiological Landscape of Dreams)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-01-01 bis 2025-06-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Why and how do we dream? Although this question has fascinated humankind since the earliest ages, it remains largely unanswered. Each night, when we fall asleep, we progressively disengage from the external world until we cease to sense it and to act upon it. Despite this disconnection from the environment, in our dreams we have vivid sensations and engage in actions. Although we do so in a purely imaginary world, our dream experiences bear so much resemblance with the real world that we almost invariably take them for real. How does the brain create such a real-world analogue, and why? The project Dreamscape proposes to answer this question by studying a set of brain potentials, recorded with electroencephalography (EEG), which not only occur spontaneously during dreams, but in a similar form also in response to sensory stimuli during sleep and wakefulness. The overarching objective of Dreamscape is to understand the precise role of these brain potentials in the generation of dreams.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

Specifically, the project will 1) provide a systematic characterization of these potentials in the sleeping and waking brain, 2) clarify their relation to arousal systems, 3) assess how they relate to sensory and motor features of dreams and 4) manipulate them to causally affect dreams. It will employ a unique combination of cutting-edge experimental approaches, including 256-channel-high-density EEG sleep recordings combined with controlled sensory stimulations, serial awakening paradigms, pharmacological manipulations, closed-loop acoustic slow wave modulation and movement analyses in neurological patients who act out their dreams.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

The project will contribute to the basic understanding of how and why we dream, with implications for the fields of consciousness, neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. It will also provide technological and pharmacological tools to manipulate sleep and dreams, with clinical relevance for patients with sleep disorders.