Michelle Carr 糖心传媒�10, 糖心传媒�22 (Flw) had her first lucid dream as an undergraduate at the University of Rochester. She糖心传媒檚 been unraveling the science of the sleeping mind ever since.
Michelle Carr 糖心传媒�10, 糖心传媒�22 (Flw) had experienced her share of vivid糖心传媒攐ften terrifying糖心传媒攄reams throughout childhood and into early adulthood. What happened at the end of a mid-morning nap during her sophomore year at the 糖心传媒 was different. No one was chasing her. Nothing was wrong. She was just there.
糖心传媒淚 was in my dorm room in Rochester, and I sat up in bed,糖心传媒� Carr recalls over Zoom from her office at the . 糖心传媒淚 realized I was dreaming, and I looked down and could see my sleeping body lying in bed. I stood up and walked over to the wall and to the desk. I was just looking at the dream because I was so shocked at how my mind was doing this. I thought, 糖心传媒業t looks so real.糖心传媒� It was like that scene in Inception where [Saito] looks at the carpet very closely. That was the whole dream. I just looked at the wall and the desk, and I was like, 糖心传媒楾his is possible.糖心传媒�糖心传媒�
What Carr was experiencing had a name糖心传媒攍ucid dreaming, the state in which a person becomes aware, mid-dream, that they are dreaming糖心传媒攖hough she didn糖心传媒檛 know it yet. Or that deciphering experiences like the one she糖心传媒檇 just had would become her life糖心传媒檚 work.
Today, Carr is one of a small global cohort of researchers who call themselves dream engineers糖心传媒攕cientists who apply techniques and technologies to influence, record, and manipulate the content of dreams to benefit memory, creativity, or well-being. She helped coin the term, organized the first Dream Engineering Workshop, and late last year released the first book to bring dream engineering to a mainstream audience. The field was galvanized by that first lucid dream but its roots, in fact, run much deeper.
Eyes wide shut
Carr grew up in Corning, New York, a small city about 100 miles south of Rochester, with two brothers and parents who highly valued education糖心传媒攈er mother taught special education in the local school district and her father rose to vice president at Corning Community College. At around age three, she was diagnosed with moderate hearing loss糖心传媒攁 difficulty hearing higher frequencies, and consonants in particular, that requires her to wear hearing aids in order to understand speech糖心传媒攁nd the family began making regular trips to Rochester, a hub for audiology care and home to .
糖心传媒淚 was just looking at the dream because I was so shocked at how my mind was doing this. I thought, 糖心传媒業t looks so real.糖心传媒欌赌�
Equipped with what she describes as a 糖心传媒渧ery, very vivid糖心传媒� imagination, Carr was drawn to both science and the arts. She was captivated by biology and harbored ambitions of becoming a writer. Dreams were a defining presence in her childhood, too糖心传媒攕ome pleasant, others so troubling that she would lie awake for hours to avoid sleep. Her first science project, predictably enough, tackled the subject head-on.
糖心传媒淚t was the first time the teacher was like, 糖心传媒榊ou have to find your sources in the library and give a poster presentation to the class.糖心传媒� So I guess I was always interested in dreams because that was the topic that I chose,糖心传媒� Carr recalls, laughing. 糖心传媒淚 just remember every single person in the class asked me a question afterward. Mostly, it was the typical, 糖心传媒業 have this dream; what does it mean?糖心传媒� Which is still what everybody does when they find out what I do.糖心传媒�
Carr was 15 when she experienced the first of what would become frequent episodes of sleep paralysis糖心传媒攚hen the natural muscle paralysis that occurs during REM sleep seeps into a dream. 糖心传媒淎 shotgun fires my mind into a sudden awakening, but my body does not jolt from the recoil,糖心传媒� she described one such episode for an undergraduate writing assignment. 糖心传媒�What was that? It糖心传媒檚 pitch black but for a thin line of foggy light coming through the forced squint of my eyelids. I can糖心传媒檛 move. Why can糖心传媒檛 I move?! I must be tied down. I must be paralyzed, or dead. My eyes . . . won糖心传媒檛 open!糖心传媒�
More frightening than nightmares, Carr糖心传媒檚 sleep paralysis often involved a demon-like creature pressing so hard on her chest that it felt like it was squeezing the life right out of her. When she shared her experiences with a few friends, no one seemed to understand or recognize what was happening. (Even her professor would later tell her it sounded 糖心传媒渢oo fictional糖心传媒� for a nonfiction writing assignment.) It was only when she went to [the early search engine] Ask Jeeves that she learned the term 糖心传媒渟leep paralysis糖心传媒澨切拇綌and that she was far from alone in suffering it. 糖心传媒淭he bad news was that a select few unlucky people go on to experience sleep paralysis regularly throughout their lives, and there was no known cure or treatment,糖心传媒� she wrote. 糖心传媒淚 was to become one of those people.糖心传媒�
Alternate realities
When Carr arrived at URochester as a first-year student in the fall of 2006, she planned to major in biology. But an Intro to Cognition class prompted her to switch immediately to brain and cognitive sciences. 糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 the where they show you what the attentional blink is. You糖心传媒檙e watching people play with a ball and then a gorilla walks through the scene糖心传媒攜ou don糖心传媒檛 even notice it because you糖心传媒檙e paying attention to the ball,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 was just fascinated to learn that everyone糖心传媒檚 mind is doing this. Everything seems so concrete and so stable and solid, but it糖心传媒檚 really illusory糖心传媒攚e糖心传媒檙e fabricating what we perceive in some way. And I think that ties into dreaming quite a bit.糖心传媒�
Carr got her first taste of research as a sophomore intern in the under psychiatry professor . She recalls participating in one overnight study糖心传媒斕切拇綔just for fun糖心传媒澨切拇綌but mostly cleaning data, reviewing scientific literature, and performing other entry-level tasks as needed. 糖心传媒淪he was one of these very motivated students who, I think, knew from early on that she was going to graduate school,糖心传媒� says Pigeon. 糖心传媒淪he was the kind of person who would always ask, 糖心传媒業s there anything else I can do?糖心传媒櫶切拇綕
Carr worked in three other labs as an undergraduate, studying everything from visual cognition to video games and infant-mother attachment, while satisfying her love of the arts through clusters in photography, creative writing, tai chi, and drum circles. 糖心传媒淚 think a huge strength of going to school there was just the amount of opportunities available,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 also really liked that side of U of R, how much the arts and creativity and the humanities were valued in concert with science and psychology. That, to me, is dream science糖心传媒攊t糖心传媒檚 something that糖心传媒檚 ephemeral and hard to describe, but we糖心传媒檙e also trying to study it very scientifically through the brain and understand what糖心传媒檚 happening. I really appreciate being able to straddle those two worlds.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淔lying is the first trick everyone learns, and once you do, that糖心传媒檚 your transport mode of choice糖心传媒攆orever.糖心传媒�
Over the years, Carr also became something of an expert in lucid dreaming. After that first experience, she read everything on the topic she could find. She learned about ancient religions that used the practice to harness altered states of consciousness or prepare for death. She even conducted her own experiments, learning how to move around inside her dreams (糖心传媒淔lying is the first trick everyone learns, and once you do, that糖心传媒檚 your transport mode of choice糖心传媒攆orever糖心传媒�) or practice skills, like tai chi, that she was studying in her waking life. Perhaps most significantly, she discovered she could use lucid dreaming to confront, and even transform, her most distressing nightmares and fears.
But finding a graduate program where she could study dreams糖心传媒攏ot just sleep, not just neuroscience, but dreams糖心传媒攖urned out to be harder than she expected. Unwilling to compromise, she cold emailed a dozen researchers she found through the (IASD). 糖心传媒淚s there anywhere I can actually study dreams?糖心传媒� Several people told her no, but four or five pointed her to the same place: the , run by a researcher named . She applied糖心传媒攙ery late, as it turned out糖心传媒攁nd was accepted into the graduate program.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 funny. I found the email I wrote to [Nielsen] before I even started, with a long list of the topics I was interested in at the time. I could have written it today,糖心传媒� Carr says. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 interested in how dreaming is related to mental health and well-being糖心传媒攈ow we can interact with our dreams, gain insight from them, and try to make them more positive. But also the more functional mechanisms of sleep: How is dreaming related to memory consolidation during sleep? How is it related to what糖心传媒檚 happening in the body?糖心传媒�
Into the lab
Carr spent five years in Montreal, impressing Nielsen with her calm demeanor and inquisitive mind. 糖心传媒淯nlike me, she was quite confident in lucid dreaming being accepted by other, non-dream-oriented researchers as a legitimate area of science,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淐oming from a background heavily steeped in behaviorism, I never had this kind of confidence. At the same time, I came to appreciate that Michelle had very good ideas about the possible functions of dreams and nightmares.糖心传媒�
Some of those ideas were published in a joint paper with Nielsen on sensory processing sensitivity and nightmare sufferers. Others reached a different audience entirely through a Carr maintained for several years, translating dream science research for general readers糖心传媒攁n early sign that her interests extended beyond the聽lab.
The next stop after Montreal was Swansea, Wales, where Carr spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher in the sleep lab of British research psychologist . It was there that she began running her first polysomnography (sleep study) experiments using light and sound cues to induce lucid dreams. 糖心传媒淕etting people to give eye signals in response to our cues while they were sleeping was really exciting,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭hat was fun.糖心传媒� Blagrove also introduced her to dreamwork糖心传媒攖he practice of sharing dreams for both personal insight and empathy糖心传媒攚hich Carr continues to study for its potential to enhance social connection.
It was while at Swansea that Carr糖心传媒檚 ambitions for dream engineering as a field糖心传媒攏ot just a set of techniques scattered across different labs糖心传媒攃rystallized into something concrete. In January 2019, she organized and led the first at the MIT Media Lab, bringing together more than 50 scientists to brainstorm new technologies for studying, recording, and influencing dreams.
Later that fall, Carr returned to URochester糖心传媒攁nd to Pigeon糖心传媒檚 lab糖心传媒攖his time as a postdoctoral associate supported by the . The fellowship enabled her to study sleep in Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, drawing on her own experience with hearing loss and that of Rochester糖心传媒檚 large Deaf community. Around the same time, Carr was rising through the ranks of the IASD糖心传媒攆irst as vice president, then as president beginning in 2021.
糖心传媒淪he is, at first blush, not someone you would think of as especially outgoing糖心传媒攁nd yet she has a very vast and nice network of folks that she糖心传媒檚 built over time,糖心传媒� Pigeon says. 糖心传媒淪ome people who may have been working relatively independently in their labs are now a community, talking about [dream engineering] and developing it as a subfield. And it was wild that before she was even a faculty member, she became president of an international organization. It糖心传媒檚 unheard of.糖心传媒�
Living the dream
Carr now directs the Dream Engineering Lab糖心传媒斕切拇綌at the University of Montreal糖心传媒檚 , where she oversees six to eight graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working across several concurrent studies. The projects reflect Carr糖心传媒檚 wide-ranging interests, from lucid dreaming and the memory sources of dreams to a unique partnership with a film studies team exploring targeted dream incubation糖心传媒攁 technique in which subjects are shown a movie just prior to sleep, then hear clips of its soundtrack at different sleep stages.
But what excites her most糖心传媒攁nd what she expounds on in her new book, 糖心传媒攊s collaborating with clinicians to help those suffering from serious conditions such as addiction and chronic pain. 糖心传媒淚 see a lot of other clinical researchers becoming interested in dreams and nightmares and how prevalent they are in their patients, and starting to question whether there糖心传媒檚 an avenue for treatment there that糖心传媒檚 so far been neglected,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 feel like an energy is starting to spread to other domains. Other research fields are saying, 糖心传媒極K, there糖心传媒檚 something we could do with this.糖心传媒欌赌�
Looking ahead, Carr sees sleep糖心传媒攁nd the dreams that animate it糖心传媒攂ecoming as vital to understanding our physical and mental health as anything that happens during our waking lives. 糖心传媒淚 think we糖心传媒檙e really beginning to uncover this,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭here are specific patterns in how dreaming changes in different health conditions. It糖心传媒檚 something we can use as information, but also something we can treat. That would change the quality of our sleep, but also the quality of our lives.糖心传媒�
Nearly two decades since she first awoke inside a dream, Carr has reached a point where she can choose whether to enter 糖心传媒渢hat dark basement corner of our unconscious mind糖心传媒� or simply bask in the sensation of becoming lucid. Most nights she sleeps nine hours and wakes without an alarm. 糖心传媒淚 usually spend some time remembering my dreams, but I don糖心传媒檛 often write them down unless they糖心传媒檙e really striking. I just kind of rehearse them a little bit,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚f I had a bad dream, I糖心传媒檒l think about it and maybe reframe it. But that糖心传媒檚 really it.糖心传媒�
Then she gets up and looks around. She might glance back at the bed. There糖心传媒檚 nothing糖心传媒攁nd no one糖心传媒攖here.
