ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Consciousness Research
Exploring the Link between Synesthesia and Lucid Dreaming through Perceptual Presence
1. Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan
2. Faculty of Sociology, Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan
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Abstract
This study investigates links between synesthesia and lucid dreaming via perceptual presence and counterfactual-richness (abundant possible sensorimotor contingencies). We hypothesized that synesthetes would report more frequent lucid dreams because enhanced counterfactual-richness facilitates dream control and clarity. We surveyed 616 adults using a synesthesia self-report, the Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams scale (LuCiD), and the Big-5 inventory (TIPI-J). Cluster analysis validated four synesthesia subtypes– Language-Color, Ordinal Linguistic Personification (OLP), Spatial Sequence, and Visualized sensation–consistent with prior work. Regression analyses revealed type-specific effects on lucid dreaming: perceptual synesthesia (Visualized sensation, Spatial Sequence) robustly promoted lucid-dream facets–especially control, and also insight, dissociation, and positive emotion–whereas conceptual synesthesia (Language-Color, OLP) showed negative interactions with Openness and Extraversion, thereby attenuating lucid-dream experiences. Personality analyses further confirmed positive associations between lucid dreaming and Openness and Extraversion, aligning with previous literature. We interpret perceptual synesthesia as an expression of excessive counterfactual-richness that enhances perceptual presence and sensorimotor contingencies during dreaming. These findings both clarify qualitative differences within synesthetic experience and suggest a new direction for understanding synesthesia and lucid dreaming as interconnected cognitive phenomena.
Summary
Keywords
Consciousness, counterfactuals, dreaming, Lucid dream, Perceptual presence, sensorimotor contingencies, synesthesia
Received
28 October 2025
Accepted
02 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Matsuda and Matsuda. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Eiko Matsuda
Disclaimer
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