Scientists have taken a significant step towards understanding the mysteries of the human brain. A team of neuroscientists from various countries has created the largest open-access database of brain activity during sleep and dreams for the first time. The project is named 'DREAM'. This database contains information from 20 research studies conducted on over 500 individuals. For the first time, this database has proven that dreams do not only occur during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, as previously believed. REM sleep is a stage of sleep characterised by rapid eye movements under the eyelids while the body remains almost still.
The research revealed that the brain is very active during this period. Scientists also found that people dream even during deep and quiet sleep. During these times, the brain's electrical waves did not resemble those of deep sleep but rather those of a waking state, as if the brain were half-awake.
Scientists also used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine when a person was dreaming. Machine learning models could accurately predict whether a person was dreaming at a particular moment by observing their brain activity. A total of 53 scientists from 37 institutions across 13 countries contributed to this project.
The 'DREAM' project is a decisive step towards understanding human sleep and consciousness. This database is also special because scientists now have a standardised and shared platform, allowing data from different laboratories to be viewed and analysed in a single format. This will make it easier to understand which brain activities are linked to dreams and consciousness. The database is freely available on Monash University's Bridges platform.
