Keith Hearne - Background

Background

After obtaining a BSc in psychology from Reading University, England, in 1973, Keith Hearne went to Hull University in the Autumn of that year, intending to conduct research for a PhD on hypnotic dreams, following his discovery of 'hypno-oneirography' - a technique for externalizing the internal imagery of good imagers during hypnosis.

He decided instead to use newly acquired computer equipment at Hull university to research electro-physiological aspects of visual imagery. During that time he became skilled in running a sleep laboratory.

He became interested in 'lucid' dreaming (the paradoxical conscious awareness of dreaming within the dream itself) and reasoned that it must be possible for a lucid dreamer to communicate to the world of wakefulness. A problem, though, was the inherent muscular paralysis of REM sleep. In early 1975 it suddenly occurred to Hearne that since the eye musculature is not inhibited in REM sleep, it might be possible to get subjects to signal by making deliberate ocular movements.

On the morning of 5 April 1975, wired up a lucid dream research-subject who was instructed to make a sequence of left-right eye-movements on becoming lucid. A lucid dream was reported at about 8 am, but unfortunately, the monitoring equipment had just been switched off. A week later, on the morning of 12 April 1975, the same subject had another lucid dream. The first signals in the world from a lucid dream were thus recorded.

In 1975 Hearne informed psychology departments at American universities of his findings - Stanford (W. Dement) and Chicago (A. Rechtschaffen). Rechtschaffen replied (September 1975) (23). (Years later, Stephen LaBerge at Stanford conducted similar work to that of Hearne, whose work was the first published in a peer-reviewed article).

Hearne continued to obtain more records over the next months. He wound up the work on visual imagery, submitting it for an MSc and moved to Liverpool University, where he was offered a sleep-laboratory, to research lucid dreams for this PhD, using paid subjects. During the course of this work he discovered the basic electro-physiological features of lucid dreams, and invented the first 'dream machine'. Hearne’s original ocular signaling recordings, and dream-machine are on permanent display at The Science Museum, in London).