Category: Dream


EOG REM Graph

The vREM channel faired pretty well with the new tweaks to the algorithm. I rolled into position at 05:24 and had an intense dream from 05:48 until 05:51. Then laid dead still for a minute and finally awoke from it and rolled out of it at 05:52. The algorithm differentiated the rolling motions from the eye movements pretty well.

The latest version of Lucid Scribe can now also export the image data so the EOG can be re-viewed remotely! This increases the file size significantly, so I only uploaded 5 am.

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) (134 MB).

Sleep and Consciousness Research Graph

I was able to record eye movements with the camera on the bedside table next to me!

The headband still records more dreams as it trains the camera on your eyes as you move around throughout the night, but is a challenge to sleep with for the casual user. And this setup brings the cost down by 100 and hopefully clears the way for more research!

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) or Comma Separated Values (CSV).

Sleep and Consciousness Research Graph

The outline of the NoIR camera hanging from the halograph headband can be seen in the shadow in the minute above. It also used to create artefacts in previous versions of the algorithm, but appears to be fairing a little better now. My alarm is currently set for 7 but I have been waking up from REM at around 6:30 consistently this week.  

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) or Comma Separated Values (CSV).

Sleep and Consciousness Research Graph

I caught another today… the pillow can be seen in the minute above and doesn’t affect the algorithm anymore.   

I have had a few inquires about using the setup without the headband and this shows that it could work if you can sleep close enough to the night-table or have the camera mounted above the bed somehow. I will try to record a session like that one night…

Sleep and Consciousness Research Graph

I now have an infrared LED shining down on me from a cupboard… and the recordings have been out of this world! Gone are the dark ages with just a few squiggly lines of questionable EEG signal quality.

The latest version of the Halovision plugin records an image-stream of any movements and Lucid Scribe automatically replays them when reviewing a session. This helped a lot with writing filters for the artefacts, like when the camera re-focuses.

The eye movements that triggered the audio track can be seen in the minute above. I was re-taming a hippo that I had saved as a baby in another life!

Here is the finalised release candidate of the Halograph EOG – a headband with a night-vision camera held in place by two bendable selfie-sticks:

It is more comfortable to sleep in than I had ever hoped. I can sleep on either side or on my back with complete freedom of movement with the 2 meter cable.

The age of light is nigh; this is light-bending!

2015-01-07 – EEG Stairs

Caught a nice flight of stairs from the OpenEEG channel in the minute below.

EEG Stairs

The signal quality tapered off here and there after that, which can only be seen in the raw EEG data… will add a signal quality channel to keep track of it.

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) with raw EEG data.

An interesting change in the heart rate variance in the top-right corner that might be indicative of REM sleep:

Change in HRV during REM

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) or Comma Separated Values (CSV).

Effects of Supplements on Eye Movement at 0135
Thanks to neuralswarm from DreamViews I now have some Choline and Galantamine to test with. I took one of each just before sleep and recorded some nice patterns within the hour during which the audio tracks triggered. The dreams were very technical in nature and I was aware of heightened electrical activity in sections of two-dimensional grids in the frontal lobe. 

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD), Comma Separated Values (CSV) or watch the video.

Sleep and Consciousness Research Graph
Some of my sleep data which potentially shows dream detection with sound activation (according to MPC) 

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) or Comma Separated Values (CSV).

After explaining the REM-detection algorithm to a friend over the weekend, I was inspired to shed some light on it by plotting each step in the loop on the graph so that it becomes easier to visualize. 

The first printout that I recorded last night, 5 minutes past midnight, shows the strained beats picked up by the halograph FM. The fREM channel can be seen counting up each blink or strained beat that peaks over the top line and then triggers the next track in the playlist after the 8th blink.

13 Strained Heartbeats at 0005

And the second printout, recorded at 0017, shows the same thing happening with the OpenREM channel from the OpenEEG electrodes.

Eye Movement Count from EEG at 0017

This will make it a lot easier to perfect the algorithm by highlighting where it was thinking about triggering. The tracks at 0618 made it into the dream and helped me stave off a hoard of zombies, but didn’t trigger lucidity…

Download entry as Lucid Scribe Data (LSD) or Comma Separated Values (CSV) or watch the video.