SmILD: Smell Induced Lucid Dreams
The Nose Knows
So, what induction techniques and technologies are yet to be tapped?
What about Smell Induction for Lucid Dreams!? The sense of smell is different from the other senses. Most information from the outside world is first processed by the thalamus before being sent to the primary regions responsible for handling said sense. When visual information hits the photo-receptors in our eyes, this data goes to the thalamus before being sent to the occipital lobe; sound waves hitting the ear-drum also go the thalamus before being sent to the primary auditory centers. Same for touch and taste. But the sense of smell is older, more "primitive," and bypasses the thalamic switchboard. Information about smell can go directly from the outside world, to your nose, straight to the cortical areas of your brain responsible for "conscious" thought. This is great, because in dreams we can still get this smell data without the thalamus routing it away from conscious recognition.
The problem: Smells are habituated to rapidly. The best, and the worst smells fade from conscious attention, even if they are still present in the environment. This means that you can't just have one smell permeating the air and hope it makes its way into your dream. No, the scent(s) should be connected to a timer, and only be sprayed into the air near you at the most opportune moments (WBTB! or REM-detection). Of course, it would help if you already trained yourself to recognize that his smell is meant to be a lucidity trigger. You would need to condition yourself for this.
But think about the benefits: No flashing lights, no sounds to wake you up, no mask to wear. A little bit of research has been done in this direction, but not enough. Still, seems like a good idea to me, and if I don't get to testing this out soon, I hope that you do!
What about Smell Induction for Lucid Dreams!? The sense of smell is different from the other senses. Most information from the outside world is first processed by the thalamus before being sent to the primary regions responsible for handling said sense. When visual information hits the photo-receptors in our eyes, this data goes to the thalamus before being sent to the occipital lobe; sound waves hitting the ear-drum also go the thalamus before being sent to the primary auditory centers. Same for touch and taste. But the sense of smell is older, more "primitive," and bypasses the thalamic switchboard. Information about smell can go directly from the outside world, to your nose, straight to the cortical areas of your brain responsible for "conscious" thought. This is great, because in dreams we can still get this smell data without the thalamus routing it away from conscious recognition.
The problem: Smells are habituated to rapidly. The best, and the worst smells fade from conscious attention, even if they are still present in the environment. This means that you can't just have one smell permeating the air and hope it makes its way into your dream. No, the scent(s) should be connected to a timer, and only be sprayed into the air near you at the most opportune moments (WBTB! or REM-detection). Of course, it would help if you already trained yourself to recognize that his smell is meant to be a lucidity trigger. You would need to condition yourself for this.
But think about the benefits: No flashing lights, no sounds to wake you up, no mask to wear. A little bit of research has been done in this direction, but not enough. Still, seems like a good idea to me, and if I don't get to testing this out soon, I hope that you do!