The ability to self-tickle following Rapid Eye Movement sleep dreaming Mark Blagrove a, * , Sarah-Jayne Blakemore b , Ben R.J. Thayer a a Department of Psychology, University of Wales Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK b Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK Received 14 October 2004 Available online 12 September 2005 Abstract Self-produced tactile stimulation usually feels less tickly—is perceptually attenuated—relative to the same stimulation produced externally. This is not true, however, for individuals with schizophrenia. Here, we investigate whether the lack of attenuation to self-produced stimuli seen in schizophrenia also occurs for normal participants following REM dreams. Fourteen participants were stimulated on their left palm with a tactile stimulation device which allowed the same stimulus to be generated by the participant or by the experimenter. The level of self-tickling attenuation did not differ between REM and non-REM sleep awak- ening conditions, where presence or absence of an accompanying dream was not controlled for. However, for the female participants, when awakening occurred from an REM sleep dream, self-stimulation ratings were higher than for external stimulation, whereas ratings after NREM sleep unaccompanied by a dream were lower for self-stimulation than for external stimulation. These results indicate deficits in self-monitor- ing and a confusion between self- and externally generated stimulation accompany REM dream formation. Ó 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: REM sleep; Dreaming; Self-stimulation; Self-monitoring www.elsevier.com/locate/concog Consciousness and Cognition 15 (2006) 285–294 Consciousness and Cognition 1053-8100/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2005.06.007 * Corresponding author. Fax: +44 01792 295679. E-mail address: m.t.blagrove@swansea.ac.uk (M. Blagrove).