Possible Dream Incubation Enhancer: Sleeping/Waking Auditory Cues
Here's an interesting idea...
So I just recently read this article, which talks about the discovery that a rat's dreams could be 'incubated' by associating an auditory cue given to the rat, during its daily run through the maze, with the same auditory cue given while the rat is asleep. It was shown that the rat would dream about the sections of the maze it was running through while hearing the cue during the day.
What I propose is this: What if a key to successful dream incubation is the introduction of an auditory cue while you're awake, as well as when you are asleep? So often, we talk about playing .mp3 files while we sleep, or focusing on a dream to incubate, while we're still awake. I don't think I've seen the idea of combining the two methods talked about at all, but I'm really interested to see if this works the way it appears it might.
I'm going to be trying this (sporadically, of course. I don't keep routines very well), but I'd also like to invite everyone else to give it a shot, too. I intend to focus on something I want to dream about (like a movie scene or something), while listening to a certain auditory cue (sounds/music/etc). Then, I'm going to play that cue back sometime during the night, while I'm sleeping (probably loop it), and see if that increases the chance of incubating a dream. I'm "ok" at incubation, already, so I think I might be able to draw a pretty good conclusion as to whether or not it works for me more than normal.
Give it a shot. Tell me what you all think and experience!