Program

The summer school program will feature two main types of sessions:

Seminars: 30-minute presentations followed by 15 minutes of Q&A. These sessions will cover a broad range of topics, including memory and emotional processing in sleep and dreams, sensory disconnection, sleep and dream modulation (dream engineering), dream content and recall, physiological and pathological dreaming, and lucid dreaming.

Workshops: 50-minute technical presentations followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. These sessions will focus on methodological and technical approaches, such as monitoring and modulating sleep and dreaming, analyzing EEG and peripheral signals, and studying or characterizing subjective experiences and emotional states.

Day 1 - Monday, May 4

09:00 - 09:30  Opening

09:30 - 10:15  Martin Dresler: "Why and how we sleep"

10:15 - 11:00  Francesca Siclari: TBD "Neuroscience of dreaming"

11:00 - 11:30  Coffee Break

11:30 - 12:15  Péter Simor: "Learning through disconnection: mind wandering is not only a distraction"

12:15 - 13:00  Giulia Ricci: TBD "Wakefulness vs. dreaming"

13:00 - 14:30  Lunch

14:30 - 15:15  Henry Hebron: "Sensory Experience in Non-REM Dreaming"

15:15 - 16:00  Valentina Elce: "And then he shouted 'Gryffindor!': thought-like and perceptual experiences in dreams"

16:00 - 16:30  Coffee Break

16:30 - 17:30  Serena Scarpelli: "Techniques and Protocols for the Scientific Study of Dreams"

17:30 - 18:30  Ugo Faraguna: TBD "Actigraphy for sleep assessment"

Day 2 - Tuesday, May 5

09:00 - 09:45  Jean-Baptiste Eichenlaub: "The Microstructure of REM Sleep Across Normal and Pathological Aging"

09:45 - 10:30  Aurora d'Atri: "The role of REM sleep continuity in sleep-dependent processing of daytime emotional experiences"

10:30 - 11:00  Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:00  Giada Lettieri: "Understanding emotions in the brain"

12:00 -13:00  Valentina Elce: "Large language models for dream content analysis"

13:00 - 14:30  Lunch

14:30 - 16:00  Flash Talks

16:00 - 16:30  Coffee Break

16:30 - 17:15  Andrea Galbiati: "Can dream recall provide insight into neurodegeneration and cognitive decline? The case of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder"

17:15 - 18:00  Giorgia Bontempi: "Dream Content Analysis in Isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: A Natural Language Processing Approach"

Day 3 - Wednesday, May 6

09:00 - 09:45  Martin Dresler: TBD "Neuroscience of lucid dreaming"

09:45 - 10:30  Emma Peters: "The Dream–Body Interface: Modulating Dream Experience Through Targeted Stimulation"

10:30 - 11:00  Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:00  Paul Zerr, Ali Saberi: "Beyond the lab: automated at-home sleep and dream experiments using EEG wearables and other modalities"

12:00 -13:00  Davide Bottari: TBD "Analysis of stimulus-related EEG responses"

13:00 - 14:30  Lunch

14:30 - 16:00  Roundtable: Definitions and best practices in dream research

16:00 - 16:30  Coffee Break

16:30 - 18:00  Project Networking

Day 4 - Thursday, May 7

09:00 - 09:45  Monika Schönauer: "Memory processing during sleep in humans"

09:45 - 10:30  Claudia Picard-Deland: "Incorporation of waking-life experiences in dreams"

10:30 - 11:00  Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:00  Guillaume Legendre: TBD "Analysis and interpretation of physiological signals"

12:00 -13:00  Ruggero Basanisi: "Real-time modulation of region-specific slow-waves"

13:00 - 14:30  Lunch

14:30 - 15:15  Ken Paller: TBD

15:15 - 16:00  Daniel Erlacher: TBD

16:00 - 16:30  Coffee Break

16:30 - 17:15  Benedetta Cecconi: "Cerebral characterization of sensory gating in disconnected dreaming states during REM sleep and propofol sedation using hd-EEG and fMRI"

17:15 - 18:00  Basak Türker: "From sensory disconnection to real-time dialogue: recent advances in sensory and cognitive processing during sleep"

Day 5 - Friday, May 8

09:00 - 09:45  Giulio Bernardi: "Dreaming deep: the relationship between dream experiences and subjective sleep depth"

09:45 - 10:30  Nicola Cellini: "The interplay between sleep quality and emotional reactivity on dream processes"

10:30 - 11:00  Coffee Break

11:00 - 11:45  Jessica Palmieri: "Incorporation of complex narratives into dreaming"

11:45 - 12:30  Sarah Schoch: "Open and reproducible sleep research: lessons from over 100 of nights in the sleep lab"

12:30 - 13:00  Outcomes of project networking and closing remarks

13:00 - 14:15  Lunch