from Hacker News

Researchers find neural switch that turns dreams on and off in mice

by prakashk on 10/16/15, 1:22 PM with 20 comments

• by wanderfowl on 10/16/15, 3:07 PM

  Very speculative, but if this could some day be adapted to humans, I'm deeply curious how (if at all) this will figure into treatments for PTSD.

  Considering that debilitating nightmares are a common and harmful symptom (as it's hard to function when you spent the night back in $trauma), I wonder whether temporarily "switching off" dreams during treatment would be helpful, if nothing else, allowing the person the occasional restful night.

  But, on the other hand, it could be harmful, too, if the traumatic dreams are actually a healthy (if not pleasant) manner of processing the trauma.

  Interesting!

• by mrfusion on 10/16/15, 3:08 PM

  I've wondered if this might be a better approach to VR in the future.

  If we could turn on a dreaming state and somehow a computer could control what you experience in the dream. You'd get full motion and haptics for free. No motion sickness, etc.

• by phkahler on 10/16/15, 2:25 PM

  First I wonder what pointed them in this direction. It seems like a lot of time and work to conduct this experiment, so what did they expect and why?

  Second, I wonder if rTMS or similar might be able to induce some of the same effects on unmodified animals or people.

• by JoeAltmaier on 10/16/15, 2:18 PM

  More significantly, they could awaken mice instantly by stimulating certain neurons in the medulla. This could have far-reaching effects! Imagine working comfortably for days. Both industry and the military will be all over this.

• by concernedctzn on 10/16/15, 3:41 PM

  This reminds me of part of The Lathe of Heaven, which I just read after a recommendation on here a few weeks ago. Interesting that they can both start and stop REM sleep, from what I can tell.