Researchers Manipulate the Dreams of Rats, Opening the Door to 'Dream Engineering'
When Lab Rats Dream Researchers have figured out how to manipulate the dreams of sleeping rats using audio cues that conjure a specific memory from the previous day. Janet Stephens via Wikimedia Never mind the Jose Canseco method for dream control. MIT researchers have successfully reached inside the brains of rats and manipulated their dreams using an audio cue conditioned into them during the previous day. It's a development that lends insight into the whole sleep/memory consolidation relationship. But it's also worth reiterating that this is dream control, external manipulation of the mind during sleep. And it could one day lead to the controlled engineering of dreams. The researchers accomplished their dream manipulation by training rats to run through a maze during the day, using audio tones to guide them. One tone indicated that a left turn would lead the rats to food, with the other tone indicating a right turn would...