RRC
REM Research Collective

A mechanistic model of the dreaming brain.

REM Research Collective is a student-led neuroscience research group building a stepwise, testable account of how the sleeping brain generates a dream, and publishing the work openly as it develops.

Read our researchOur mission
Mission

Why we exist

We started REM Research Collective to give curiosity-driven research a home, and to do the whole thing out in the open.

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Progress

Where we stand

A running, dated log of what's finished, what's underway, and what's next. We post it as it happens, not just when it looks good.

  • Research Framework

    Complete

    We've settled how a project gets scoped, documented, and reviewed.

  • Team Formation

    Complete

    Core team is together, covering theory, anatomy, biochemistry, and computation.

  • Theory Paper Drafted

    Complete

    The six-step cascade is written up in full, with its divergences from the classical account stated so they can be tested.

  • Publication by End of October

    In progress

    The theory paper is in the publication pipeline, targeted to be out by the end of October 2026.

See the full log
Research

Featured research

What we're actively working on right now.

Sanchez-Raghavendra-Chen Activation Synthesis Model

Active

A six-step model of how a dream gets generated, building on Hobson and McCarley's Activation-Synthesis theory. We argue that the pontine trigger sets off a determinate cascade, with the thalamus as the branch point that sends the sensory and affective streams of a dream down parallel routes, rather than the cortex making sense of random noise after the fact. Because the claim is about the direction and order of information flow, activation mapping alone cannot settle it.

Team
Cristobal Sanchez, Pranathi Raghavendra, Jin-Rou (Zoey) Chen, Millan Hamilton
Focus
Six-step cascade stated formally · Three points of divergence from the classical account identified · Submitted for publication, targeting end of October 2026 · Companion empirical study on directed influence in design
Read the paper

Hippocampal-Linked Emotional Memory and the Long-Term Emotional Tone of Dreams

In Progress

A one-month, interview-based behavioral companion to the Sanchez-Raghavendra-Chen model. If the hippocampus binds emotionally consolidated material into dream content, as our cascade claims, then emotionally salient waking experience should leave a measurable trace in the emotional tone of later dreams. We test that with induced emotion (normed film clips) and with naturally occurring life events, kept in separate analytic tracks.

Team
Cristobal Sanchez, Pranathi Raghavendra, Jin-Rou (Zoey) Chen, Millan Hamilton
Focus
Two tracks: experimental (induced emotion) and naturalistic (real-world events) · Hall–Van de Castle emotion coding by blind, independent coders · Prepared for IRB review with the Cerritos College Psychology Department · Hypotheses and analysis plan pre-registered before data collection
Read the paper

Nanoporous Sleep Tracking Patch

In Progress

A thin, breathable skin patch that records brain activity (EEG), heart rhythm (ECG), and electrodermal activity (EDA) from one discreet site behind the ear and along the upper neck. This R&D phase settles the anatomical, materials, and computational questions that have to be answered before a prototype can be built, with REM sleep tracking and more comfortable clinical sleep studies as the long-term goal.

Team
Cristobal Sanchez, Pranathi Raghavendra, Jin-Rou (Zoey) Chen, Millan Hamilton
Focus
Aim 1: electrode layout grounded in retroauricular–cervical anatomy · Aim 2: breathable, skin-safe substrates, electrodes, and adhesives · Aim 3: open-source signal-quality and sleep-staging pipeline · 18-month R&D phase ending in a prototype design specification
Read the paper
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Timeline

How we got here

  1. 2026

    REM Research Collective founded

    A few students started the collective to study dreaming seriously.

  2. 2026

    Research planning begins

    We set up our first frameworks, documentation standards, and review process.

  3. 2026

    Theory paper completed

    The six-step cascade is written up in full, with its points of divergence from the classical account stated in testable form.

  4. October 2026

    Publication

    We're aiming to have the theory paper published by the end of October.

  5. Post-publication

    Clinical testing

    Once published, the model enters clinical testing, evaluated alongside the competing accounts of dream generation rather than on its own.

  6. Future

    Expanded collaborations

    Teaming up with other researchers and labs to take on more.

Updates

Latest updates

Behavioral companion study proposed

Wrote up a one-month dream-diary study testing whether emotional waking experience shows up in the emotional tone of later dreams. It's headed for IRB review with our Cerritos College faculty sponsor, Prof. Anthony Mendez.

Theory paper submitted for publication

The six-step cascade paper is out of our hands and into review. We're aiming to see it published by the end of October.

Cascade restated as a directed-influence claim

Rewrote the model so its three divergences from Hobson and McCarley are claims about what causes what, not about which regions light up. Activation mapping can't settle it; that's the point.

Come work with us.

We're a small lab and we're growing. If rigorous, openly published dream research sounds like your kind of work, we'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch