Thread: Activating the left brain hemisphere to attain lucidity

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Sounds like a good MILD affirmation

Definitively!
This approach appeals to me in a way - so here my take on it.
The whole right-left brain thing is vastly overrated so it can even be called a myth - but I have a theory, why this works so nicely for many people, and I might try it out, but in a slightly different manner.
It basically consists of affirmations to activate higher mental faculties once you are dreaming beforehand and this combined with the power of visualization.
Maybe it does indeed even help to concentrate on a part of the brain for that - did anybody try it with the right side, just for curiosity?
I have a nice picture for those who find it helpful to concentrate on something in the brain - the regions which do light up on MRI for real in LDs. On top of what is going on in both hemispheres already - see Ctharlhie's pics below.
You wouldn't try the right hemisphere, would you, because you don't believe logic resides there, right?

I have had complete chains of reasoning in my dreams, that I recall without lucidity - the logic did work within the pre-set situation of the dream - no problems in procedure.
So it's not so much about the logic - and many people, like Sageous, agree there.
Primarily it is about meta-consciousness - being conscious of being conscious - or call it the famous self-awareness - and this is indeed known to be correlated to those areas:

The human capacity of self-perception, self-reflection and consciousness development are among the unsolved mysteries of neuroscience.
“The general basic activity of the brain is similar in a normal dream and in a lucid dream,” says Michael Czisch, head of a research group at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry.
“In a lucid state, however, the activity in certain areas of the cerebral cortex increases markedly within seconds.
The involved areas of the cerebral cortex are the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, to which commonly the function of self-assessment is attributed, and the frontopolar regions, which are responsible for evaluating our own thoughts and feelings. The precuneus is also especially active, a part of the brain that has long been linked with self-perception.”

This is from here: Lucid dreamers help scientists locate the seat of meta-consciousness in the brain -- ScienceDaily
And is the actual stand of knowledge these days - I also find, the metaconsciousness concept as source of lucidity far more convincing, than just simplistically take the whole left hemisphere and denominate it "logic centre".
No offence meant of course - I find this approach in general quite attractive!
Got to admit though - topologically - this is a bit more sophisticated for visualization as well. Maybe just take the frontal part?
Just - once you know, you operate on placebo with taking a whole hemisphere - it doesn't work any more - and proper knowledge is better than myths - so I'd opt for a change.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Lateralisation between the hemispheres of the brain is no where near as significant as is often portrayed by those who would tell you you can 'hemi-sync' (usually so they can sell you something)

Lateralization of brain function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The truth is that throughout your life the hemispheres of your brain work in tandem but interdependently of each other, and statements of 'logical left' and 'creative right' are largely generalisations, remember that each hemisphere is a mirror image of the other with the exact same neuroanatomy on each side.

It would be silly to suggest that your brain would sacrifice half of its processing power for something so intensive as dreaming by shutting down the left hemisphere. In fact MRI scans show that the two hemispheres show roughly equal activity:



However it is generally accepted in sleep research circles that the higher reasoning centres of the forebrain responsible for things like operative memory and self-awareness are suppressed.
So if you really are stimulating anything then it would be the forebrain.

Maybe the stimulation of the forebrain becomes associated with the realisation that you are dreaming so that when it finds itself in an inhibited state it triggers the realisation you are dreaming. I which case this technique could hold implications for WILD and recognising the transition without having to remain conscious through the whole WILD. In a way it's similar to the 'third eye' and Nina's technique of WILDing.

However, it may just be a simple matter of mnemonic/auto-suggestion induction, in which case it would be effective as a MILD and may be increased even further in effectiveness if coupled with visualisation.

You are correct - and I know quite a bit about brains as well. It is not correct, that the left hemisphere is dormant in normal dreams - your post and pictures should suffice to show that, actually.
Here a link to a neuroscientist's blog, which also has a nice optical illusion - often interpreted incorrectly according to that myth:
NeuroLogica Blog » Left Brain – Right brain and the Spinning Girl

Originally Posted by mcwillis

Good work Ctharlhie. I haven't had much time to do some proper research but going back to what I have researched the above is not entirely correct. Thank you though for your efforts. I shall update new information once I have looked properly.

Did you look properly by now?
A switch in localities and concepts does in no way invalidate the affirmation with visualization/imagining feeling somewhere in the brain!