Flying dreams stimulated by an immersive virtual reality task

•Flying dreams are infrequent and reliable induction procedures are lacking.•Brief immersion in a virtual reality flying task increased flying dream occurence.•Prior dream experiences and sensory immersion in VR modulated flying dream occurence.•A new explanation of dream-flying as endogenously generated vection is proposed.•Findings provide insights for improving future dream flight-induction technologies. Despite a high prevalence and broad interest in flying dreams, these exceptional experiences remain infrequent. Our study aimed to (1) induce flying dreams using a custom-built virtual reality (VR) flying task, (2) examine their phenomenological correlates and (3) investigate their relations to participant state and trait factors. 137 participants underwent VR-flying followed by a morning nap. They also completed home dream journals for 5 days before and 10 days after the VR exposure. VR-flying successfully increased the reporting of flying dreams during the laboratory nap and on the following morning compared to both baseline frequencies and a control cohort. Flying dreams were also changed qualitatively, exhibiting higher levels of Lucid-control and emotional intensity, after VR exposure. Factors such as prior dream-flying experiences and level of VR sensory immersion modulated flying dream induction. Findings are consistent with a new vection-based explanation of dream-flying and may facilitate development of dream flight-induction technologies.