Thread: <Research>

It's hard to answer your questions without being some sort of professional specialist... If you have read Dr. Stephen Laberge's books, you will see that he says that everyone can have lucid dreams. But there are people who have more lucid dreams than other, and those who have had lucid dreams since childhood without having been told what they are and that it's possible.

The entire phenomenon of dreaming is still poorly understood by modern science. While we have a lot of knowledge on the physical and neurological changes that occur during sleep and dreaming, the exact mechanisms which cause dreams as well as the biological "purpose" of dreams are two things which are still being debated. As for lucid dreams, we know even less. With a few notable exceptions (such as the previously mentioned Dr. LaBerge), lucid dreaming is not a fashionable research topic. What this boils down to is that we really don't have concrete answers for the questions in the second half of your post. However, it is theorized by some (such as LaBerge) that anyone who is capable of dreaming is capable of lucid dreaming.

What's your doctorate in? I disagree completely. I think the only thing required to lucid dream is the ability to understand that things we see may not be real. I doubt the dogs, cats... have the ability to comprehend an hallucination or a dream. I think any human in health mental state possesses this ability.