Boosting sleep slow waves suppresses dreaming

Abstract

AbstractPrevious findings suggest a negative correlation between slow oscillations (SO) in posterior brain regions and dreaming. Here we use a precise closed-loop auditory stimulation (CLAS) procedure to causally test whether slow oscillations suppress dreaming. Our results show that boosting posterior SO during NREM sleep decreases the likelihood of dreaming as compared to no SO boosting. This study provides the first causal evidence for the neural correlates of dreaming.