Hi Dry!

I'm not convinced they work at all. I've yet to see someone who has spontaneously, in a normal dream, performed a RC and then become lucid. (I expect there are people who do - somewhere out there - and I would love to hear from you if thats you. I also keep meaning to check the posts - but you can't search for 'RC'&#33

Usually a DILD occurs when a person just notices something dream-like, and then they may do a RC to confirm or stabilise the LD. If the question ever arises in a dream 'Am I dreaming?' you could do a RC to check, but the question alone is usually enough - dreams are normally so very different to waking life. When awake, unless they are mentaly ill or on drugs I doubt anyone would hesitate in being able to say whether or not they are dreaming - and you don't need a specific RC for this as every sense will confirm you are awake.

Nonetheless doing waking RCs may get you in the habit of questioning reality, which may carry over into dreams. And I do various reality checks where I exercise various senses - trying to percieve the world more keenly - as well as the 'Inverse Reality Check' (confirming that ALL is a dream) of Tibetan Dream Yoga.

I have been researching fine-tuning RC methods to the individual by taking account of learning modes. People often have a dominant learning mode (could be Visual, Kinesthetic, Audial) - if like most people you are Visual - then employing that sense may work better than other methods.

See my signature below for links to VAK tests and a list of RCs arranged by learning mode.

Good luck!