Abstract

In this critical review, we discuss lucid dreaming, that is, the dream periods in which one is aware of dreaming. During a lucid dream, experiences are correctly recognized by the dreamer as a dreamlike type. This occurs thanks to the activation of self-awareness, accompanied by a more accurate memory of some events or information of one’s life in waking conditions, and by the ability to guide one’s actions in the dream in an intentional way. After some historical notes on lucid dreaming, we discuss the main results obtained by recent psychological and neurobiological research on this phenomenon, the lucidity induction methods, applications and scientific models, and finally we examine the still open and relevant questions on lucid dreaming for the elaboration of a unitary model.