%0 Journal Article %A F. Siclari %A B. Baird %A L. Perogamvros %A G. Bernardi %A J. LaRocque %A B. Riedner %A M. Boly %A B. Postle %A G. Tononi %T The neural correlates of dreaming %D 2016 %R 10.1101/012443 %J bioRxiv %P 012443 %X Consciousness never fades during wake. However, if awakened from sleep, sometimes we report dreams and sometimes no experiences. Traditionally, dreaming has been identified with REM sleep, characterized by a wake-like, globally ‘activated’, high-frequency EEG. However, dreaming also occurs in NREM sleep, characterized by prominent low-frequency activity. This challenges our understanding of the neural correlates of conscious experiences in sleep. Using high-density EEG, we contrasted the presence and absence of dreaming within NREM and REM sleep. In both NREM and REM sleep, the presence of dreaming was associated with a local decrease in low-frequency activity in posterior cortical regions. High-frequency activity within these regions correlated with specific dream contents. Monitoring this posterior ‘hot zone’ predicted the presence/absence of dreaming during NREM sleep in real time, suggesting that it may constitute a core correlate of conscious experiences in sleep. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/10/24/012443.full.pdf