Keith Hearne’s lucid-dreaming eye-signal experiment

Record summary

Psychologist Keith Hearne conducted early laboratory work in which a lucid dreamer attempted prearranged eye movements during REM sleep, producing signals detectable on polysomnographic recordings. The experiment is historically important for altered-states research because it operationalized conscious awareness during dreaming without requiring awakening or verbal report. It also provides a comparison point for later lucid-dream and out-of-body claims. Details concerning participant identity, publication venue, replication, and the exact evidential status of the first successful signalling episode require checking against primary sources.