DreamThrower: An audio/visual display for influencing dreams

The DreamThrower is a novel technology that explores virtually creating, throwing and catching dreams. It detects users’ dream state by measuring rapid eye movement. Once the dream state is detected, sound and light stimuli is played to alter the dream. Users report on their dream, and they can send the stimuli that they have used to another person via an on-line website. A working prototype accurately detects REM sleep. Based on results from the first experiment with three subjects, light and environmental sounds such as a jungle and ocean were found to have little influence on dreams. The second experiment with five subjects found that voice sound stimulus could influence dreams in one case. Interestingly, our subjects felt that the DreamThrower system would be a fun gaming experience and many said that they would share their dreams for a collaborative gaming experience. User engagement with the social network may be sufficient to alter dreams. Two studies with different stimuli showed some evidence that dreams can be altered. 2011 International Federation for Information Processing Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.