Tore A. Nielsen, Ph.D.
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Full Professor
Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal
Psychologist (College of Psychologists of Quebec)
Director of the Dream and Nightmare Laboratory
514-338-2222 ext. 3350
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Education:
Post-doctorate in Psychiatry (UdeM)
Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (University of Alberta)
M.Sc. in Experimental Psychology (University of Calgary)
Research Interests:
Dependance of learning and memory on REM sleep and dreaming processes. Pathophysiology, cognitive dysfunction, quantitative EEG, and changes in sleep-dependant memory processes in patients with recurrent nightmares. Dream disturbances and parasomnias in pregnancy and postpartum women. Dream alterations in REM sleep behavior disorder. Dreaming, empathy and the mirror neuron system. Nightmares, early-life adverse events, and suicide.
Methodologies:
Polysomnography, selective REM sleep deprivation, spectral analysis of the EEG and ECG, sensory stimulation during sleep, virtual reality exposure, sampling and analysis of lab and home dreams, internet-based dream collection, high-resolution SPECT imaging, brain stimulation (transcranial alternating current stimulation).
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Academic Links:
http://umontreal.academia.edu/ToreNielsen
https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=2PJg3k8AAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tore_Nielsen
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9372-8652
Lab Links:
http://www.dreamscience.ca
https://www.facebook.com/Dream-and-Nightmare-Laboratory-168442263213721/?pnref=lhc
Blogs/Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MangoTore
https://dnl88.wordpress.com/
https://hypnosblog.wordpress.com/
Chosen Publications:
Carr M & Nielsen T. Morning REM sleep naps facilitate broad access to emotional semantic networks. Sleep 2015, 38(3), 433-443.
Nielsen T & Powell RA. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: food and diet as instigators of bizarre and disturbing dreams. Frontiers in Psychology 2015, 6, 47.
Nielsen T, O'Reilly C, Carr M, Dumel G, Godin I, Solomonova E, Lara-Carrasco J & Paquette T. Overnight improvements in two REM sleep-sensitive tasks are associated with both REM and NREM sleep changes, sleep spindle features, and awakenings for dream recall. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory: Special Issue on REM sleep and memory 2015, 122, 88-97.
Lara-Carrasco J, Simard V, Saint-Onge K, Lamoureux-Tremblay V, Nielsen T. Disturbed dreaming during the third trimester of pregnancy. Sleep Med 2014, 15(6), 694-700.
Nielsen T & Levin R. Nightmares: A new neurocognitive model. Sleep Medicine Reviews 2007, 11, 295-310.
Research
Summary of Current Research:
Lucid Dreaming: Current project uses TACS brain stimulation during REM sleep in an attempt to elicit lucidity in practiced lucid dreamers.
Nightmares: Current projects aim to explore how idiopathic and post-traumatic nightmares (as in PTSD) are related to childhood adverse experiences, how nightmares may be related to emotional and cognitive function during wake, and whether there are measurable differences in neural processing of emotional stimuli between nightmare sufferers and control participants (measured via HR-SPECT neuroimaging).
Dreams and Learning: Several projects exploring what types of learning tasks are consolidated during NREM and/or REM sleep, and whether overnight improvements in task performance are related to dream content.
Collaborators
Julie Carrier (Dept. Psych., U Montreal), Russell Powell (Dept. Psych., Grant MacEwan U), Don Kuiken (Dept. Psych., U Alberta), Jacques Montplaisir (Dept. Psychiat., U Montreal), Maurice Ptito (Ecole Optometry, U Montreal), Antonio Zadra (Psych. Dept. U Montreal), Valerie Simard (Psych. Dept. U Sherbrooke)
Team
Lab Members:
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Tyna Paquette, Ph.D.
Research Coordinator
Ph.D. in Physiology (McGill University)
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Elizaveta Solomonova, B.Sc.
Ph.D. candidate, Individualized program, Université de Montréal
Co-direction with Dr. Sha Xin Wei, Université de Montréal
Sleep and dreams during kinesthetic stimulation: comparison between meditators and non-meditators
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Louis-Philippe Marquis, B.Sc.
Ph.D. candidate in Psychology R/I, Université de Montréal
Cerebral network of fear: high-resolution SPECT imaging in post-traumatic stress disorder and in nightmare disorder
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Cloé Blanchette-Carrière, B.Sc.
M.Sc. candidate in Biomedical Sciences, Université de Montréal
Transcranial direct-current stimulation as a method for the induction of lucid dreams and take control of dreams
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Claudia Picard-Deland, B.Sc.
M.Sc. candidate in neuroscience, Université de Montréal
The effect of targeted memory reactivation in REM or NREM sleep on the consolidation of a virtual reality procedural memory |
Previous Lab Members:
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Michelle Carr, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, Université de Montréal
The associative nature or REM sleep and Dreaming: a mechanism toward creativity
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Isabelle Godin, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Psychology R/I, Université de Montréal
Dreams of rapid eye movement behavior disorders patients
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Jessica Lara-Carrasco, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Psychology, Université de Montréal
Pregnancy dreams: A study of the association between maternal representations in dreams of pregnant women and postnatal psychological well-being
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Christian O'Reilly, Ph.D
Postdoctoral Fellow, Université de Montréal
Design of analytical tools for the electroencephalographic investigation of sleep spindles: Application to the study of the impact of sleep on memory consolidation
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Kadia Saint-Onge, M.Sc.
M.Sc. in Psychology, Université de Montréal
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Publications
Nielsen T. Microdream neurophenomenology. Neuroscience of Conciousness 2017, 3, nix001.
Solomonova E, Stenstrom P, Schon E, Duquette A, Dubé S, O'Reilly C, Nielsen T. Sleep-dependent consolidation of face recognition and its relationship to REM sleep duration, REM density and Stage 2 sleep spindles. Journal of Sleep Research 2017, doi: 10.1111/jsr.12520.
O'Reilly C, Warby SC, Nielsen T. Sleep Spindles: Breaking the Methodological Wall. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2017, 10, 672.
NielsenT, Carr M, Blanchette-Carrière C, Marquis LP, Dumel G, Solomonova E, Julien SH, Picard-Deland C, Paquette T. NREM sleep spindles are associated with dream recall. Sleep Spindles and Cortical Up States 2016, doi: 10.1556/2053.1.2016.003.
Windt JM, Nielsen T, Thompson E. Does consciousness disappear in dreamless sleep? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2016, 20, 871-882.
Carr M, Blanchette-Carrière C, Solomonova E, Paquette T, Nielsen T. Intensified daydreams and nap dreams in frequent nightmare sufferers. Dreaming 2016, 26, 119-131.
Carr M, Blanchette-Carrière C, Marquis L-P, Tieng Ting C, Nielsen T. Nightmare sufferers show atypical emotional semantic associations and prolonged REM sleep-dependent emotional priming. Sleep Medicine 2015, 20, 80-87.
Godin I, Montplaisir J, Nielsen T. Dreaming and nightmares in REM sleep behavior disorder. Dreaming 2015, 25, 257-273.
O’Reilly C, Godin I, Montplaisir J, Nielsen T. REM sleep behaviour disorder is associated with lower fast and higher slow sleep spindle densities. Journal of Sleep Research 2015, 24, 593-601.
Carr M, Nielsen T. Daydreams and nap dreams: content comparisons. Consciousness and Cognition 2015, 36, 196-205.
Dumel G, Carr M, Marquis L-P, Blanchette-Carrière C, Paquette T, Nielsen T. Infrequent dream recall is associated with low performance but high overnight improvement on the Mirror-Tracing Task. Journal of Sleep Research 2015, 24, 372-382.
Carr M & Nielsen T. Morning REM sleep naps facilitate broad access to emotional semantic networks. Sleep 2015, 38(3), 433-443.
Nielsen T & Powell RA. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: food and diet as instigators of bizarre and disturbing dreams. Frontiers in Psychology 2015, 6, 47.
Nielsen T, O'Reilly C, Carr M, Dumel G, Godin I, Solomonova E, Lara-Carrasco J & Paquette T. Overnight improvements in two REM sleep-sensitive tasks are associated with both REM and NREM sleep changes, sleep spindle features, and awakenings for dream recall. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory: Special Issue on REM sleep and memory 2015, 122, 88-97.
O’Reilly C, Nielsen T. Automatic sleep spindle detection: benchmarking with fine temporal resolution using open science tools. Front Hum Neurosci 2015, 9, 353.
Lara-Carrasco J, Simard V, Saint-Onge K, Lamoureux-Tremblay V, Nielsen T. Disturbed dreaming during the third trimester of pregnancy. Sleep Med 2014, 15(6), 694-700.
Godin I, Montplaisir J, Gagnon JF, Nielsen T. Alexithymia associated with nightmare distress in idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder. Sleep 2013, 36(12), 1957-1962.
Nielsen TA, Paquette T, Solomonova E, Lara-Carrasco J, Colombo R, Lanfranchi P. Changes in cardiac variability after REM sleep deprivation in recurrent nightmares. Sleep 2010, 33(1), 113-122.
Nielsen TA. Nightmares associated with the eveningness chronotype. J Biol Rhythms 2010, 25(1), 53-62.
Nielsen TA, Paquette T, Solomonova E, Lara-Carrasco J, Popova A, Levrier K. REM sleep characteristics of nightmare sufferers before and after REM sleep deprivation. Sleep Med 2010, 11(2), 172-179.
Lara-Carrasco J, Nielsen TA, Solomonova E, Levrier K, Popova A. Overnight emotional adaptation to negative stimuli is altered by REM sleep deprivation and is correlated with intervening dream emotions. J Sleep Res 2009, 18, 178-187.
Levin R, Nielsen T. Nightmares, bad dreams and emotion dysregulation: A review and new neurocognitive model of dreaming. Current Directions in Psychological Science 2009, 18, 84-8.
Simard V, Nielsen TA, Tremblay R, Boivin M, Montplaisir JY. Longitudinal study of preschool sleep disturbance: the predictive role of maladaptive parental behaviours, early sleep problems and child/mother psychological factors. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2008, 162(4), 360-367.
Solomonova E, Nielsen TA, Stenstrom P, Simard V, Frantova E, Donderi D. Sensed presence as a correlate of sleep paralysis distress, social anxiety and waking state social imagery. Conscious Cogn 2008, 17, 49-63.
Simard V, Nielsen TA, Tremblay R, Boivin M, Montplaisir JY. Longitudinal study of bad dreams in preschool children: prevalence, demographic correlates, risk and protective factors. Sleep 2008, 31, 62-70.
Nielsen TA, Paquette T. Dream-associated behaviors affecting pregnant and postpartum women. Sleep 2007, 30(9), 1162-1169.
Nielsen T & Levin R. Nightmares: A new neurocognitive model. Sleep Medicine Reviews 2007, 11, 295-310.
