Practicing a Motor Task in a Lucid Dream Enhances Subsequent Performance: A Pilot Study
The Sport Psychologist June 1, 2010 Daniel Erlacher, Michael Schredl 76 citations
Practicing a motor task during a lucid dream can improve subsequent waking performance. In a pilot study, 40 participants were assigned to a lucid dream practice group, a physical practice group, or a control group. The task was tossing coins into a cup. Seven of the 20 volunteers in the lucid dream group successfully practiced the task in a lucid dream and showed a performance improvement from 3.7 to 5.3 successful tosses out of 20, while the other 13 in that group showed no improvement (from 3.4 to 2.9). The physical practice group improved the most, followed by the successful lucid dream group; both improved significantly more than the nondreaming and control groups. The design cannot distinguish whether specific motor learning or unspecific motivation caused the improvement.