I always have visuals in color going on in dreams. I’m not sure that I hear sounds. I get some kinesthesia. Sometimes I get concepts in the sense of “just knowing” the backstory for something in a dream. I only remember taste/smell happening once.
I’ve read that no one dreams of landing a real punch, which I assume means a plausible amount of tactile/kinesthetic input.
I read once in a book that you never eat anything in a dream. Shortly later I had a dream where I was eating my mother’s homemade pumpkin molasses muffins, and they tasted very good...and had texture in my mouth, and the satisfying solidness as I swallowed. In general, what distinguishes my dreams from reality is how the locations are similar-yet-different to real life. If I notice that “wait, this bus stop looks too similar to the one outside my rez to be a different place, but it’s not the same” then sometimes I can realize I’m in a dream. Also, my schedule gets mixed up; in a dream, I might be going to choir practice directly from class, even though I know I don’t have classes on Thursdays. All my senses are involved in dreams though, and usually fairly elaborate plots, like trying to get to class on time when things keep going wrong (buses not showing up, people coming to distract me) and I’m worried about something else.
I’ve read that no one dreams of landing a real punch, which I assume means a plausible amount of tactile/kinesthetic input.
I’ve found my dream senses work about as well as my imagination and memory do—which is, admittedly, certainly a bit fuzzier than reality, but I have all my senses.
Admittedly, upon being told I “can’t” do something in my dreams (dream in color, read in a dream, observe fine detail), I’ll usually have a dream within a week that contradicts that assertion. My subconscious is ornery like that. It’s also annoying having learned that if I pinch myself in a dream, it does in fact hurt, which lead to one dream where I was utterly convinced it wasn’t a dream until after I woke up >.>
(Inexplicably, light switches never work in my dreams. This is the sole “sign you’re dreaming” that has actually worked for me)
Interesting, thank you! I don’t recall that information on the “pinch test” last time I read.
That said, the “look at ground” has never worked for me, and I realized “look at numbers/text” doesn’t work for me when I started doing comparison price shopping in my dreams. I’ll have to try the breath holding one, but, ahh, given it’s a very familiar sensation, I doubt that test will work for me either ^^;
In a study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, participants who were in REM “dream” sleep were also monitored by special MRI imaging designed to visualize brain activity. The researchers found activity in areas of the brain that control sight, hearing, smell, touch, arousal, sleep-wake transitions, balance and body movement.[4][5]
I get concepts in the sense of “just knowing” the backstory for something in a dream.
I heard, and then self-interrogated and found it plausible, that most of a dream is backstory. Suppose a dream lasts 5 minutes subjectively, then the dream would actually be 5 minutes of subjective backstory with a few seconds of visual images. In particular, the dream only lasts a few seconds. (I also understand that the visual images come first, perhaps semi-randomly, and then the brain overlays a story.) Also from the same Wikipedia page:
During dreaming, the primary visual cortex is inactive, while secondary areas are active. This is similar to when subjects are asked to imagine or recall a visual scene, and different from what happens when they are actually seeing the scene.[6]
In one of Patricia Garfield’s books (either Pathway to Ecstacy or Creative Dreaming), she concludes after much introspection that dreams are stories built around bodily sensations.
Like playing a MUD or being absorbed in a good book. The story, scenario and actions are just there in the brain without necessary requiring an actual visual intermediary.
Note that for many people, reading books is a very visual experience. One of my friends is an eidetic imaginer. If she reads a book, she actually sees the events in almost the same vividness as if she was witnessing them for real. (I don’t know about MUDs, but I don’t see why they should be any different.) So “like playing a MUD or being absorbed in a good book” isn’t necessarily a very useful way of describing this.
So “like playing a MUD or being absorbed in a good book” isn’t necessarily a very useful way of describing this.
Not very useful, merely the most useful way that is practical in a brief sentence. Not all inferential differences can be crossed in a few words. The second sentence comes closer, an essay would have gone further and a neuroscience textbook further still. But for those with particularly different default styles of thought actually grasping in detail the entirely different forms of experience would take extensive mental training—when possible at all. It is hard to explain to a blind guy what it is like to see when you are deaf and dumb yourself.
Actually, now I’m curious. I wonder if any blind guys have ever hooked up with deaf chicks (or vice versa or vice vice). If I were in one of the groups I would definitely set out to do it at least once, even if only briefly. The two major communication lines cut off but two brains there that would, I expect, learn to cross that chasm regardless.
The solution that came to mind was typing (with a text-to-speech or text-to-braille solution for the blind person). If the deaf person could read lips and speak understandable English (and some can), they could just talk.
The solution that came to mind was typing (with a text-to-speech or text-to-braille solution for the blind person).
That seems to be the obvious solution. The part that makes me intrigued, however is how the increased overhead of verbal communication would encourage a heavily intuitive physical language to emerge. Even more fascinating would be if the participants started their interacting as children. I would expect a full physically mediated grammar to evolve.
If the deaf person could read lips and speak understandable English (and some can), they could just talk.
I distinctly remember typing ‘deaf and dumb’. I must have edited that out while making the phrasing fit.
Can you describe a mostly concept dream?
I always have visuals in color going on in dreams. I’m not sure that I hear sounds. I get some kinesthesia. Sometimes I get concepts in the sense of “just knowing” the backstory for something in a dream. I only remember taste/smell happening once.
I’ve read that no one dreams of landing a real punch, which I assume means a plausible amount of tactile/kinesthetic input.
I read once in a book that you never eat anything in a dream. Shortly later I had a dream where I was eating my mother’s homemade pumpkin molasses muffins, and they tasted very good...and had texture in my mouth, and the satisfying solidness as I swallowed. In general, what distinguishes my dreams from reality is how the locations are similar-yet-different to real life. If I notice that “wait, this bus stop looks too similar to the one outside my rez to be a different place, but it’s not the same” then sometimes I can realize I’m in a dream. Also, my schedule gets mixed up; in a dream, I might be going to choir practice directly from class, even though I know I don’t have classes on Thursdays. All my senses are involved in dreams though, and usually fairly elaborate plots, like trying to get to class on time when things keep going wrong (buses not showing up, people coming to distract me) and I’m worried about something else.
I’ve found my dream senses work about as well as my imagination and memory do—which is, admittedly, certainly a bit fuzzier than reality, but I have all my senses.
Admittedly, upon being told I “can’t” do something in my dreams (dream in color, read in a dream, observe fine detail), I’ll usually have a dream within a week that contradicts that assertion. My subconscious is ornery like that. It’s also annoying having learned that if I pinch myself in a dream, it does in fact hurt, which lead to one dream where I was utterly convinced it wasn’t a dream until after I woke up >.>
(Inexplicably, light switches never work in my dreams. This is the sole “sign you’re dreaming” that has actually worked for me)
Mentioned in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream#Reality_testing , as well as the non-reliability of the pinch test.
Interesting, thank you! I don’t recall that information on the “pinch test” last time I read.
That said, the “look at ground” has never worked for me, and I realized “look at numbers/text” doesn’t work for me when I started doing comparison price shopping in my dreams. I’ll have to try the breath holding one, but, ahh, given it’s a very familiar sensation, I doubt that test will work for me either ^^;
One that worked for me was to check if I could see through my hands as if I had X-ray vision.
looking on Wikipedia I find this:
I heard, and then self-interrogated and found it plausible, that most of a dream is backstory. Suppose a dream lasts 5 minutes subjectively, then the dream would actually be 5 minutes of subjective backstory with a few seconds of visual images. In particular, the dream only lasts a few seconds. (I also understand that the visual images come first, perhaps semi-randomly, and then the brain overlays a story.) Also from the same Wikipedia page:
In one of Patricia Garfield’s books (either Pathway to Ecstacy or Creative Dreaming), she concludes after much introspection that dreams are stories built around bodily sensations.
Like playing a MUD or being absorbed in a good book. The story, scenario and actions are just there in the brain without necessary requiring an actual visual intermediary.
Note that for many people, reading books is a very visual experience. One of my friends is an eidetic imaginer. If she reads a book, she actually sees the events in almost the same vividness as if she was witnessing them for real. (I don’t know about MUDs, but I don’t see why they should be any different.) So “like playing a MUD or being absorbed in a good book” isn’t necessarily a very useful way of describing this.
Not very useful, merely the most useful way that is practical in a brief sentence. Not all inferential differences can be crossed in a few words. The second sentence comes closer, an essay would have gone further and a neuroscience textbook further still. But for those with particularly different default styles of thought actually grasping in detail the entirely different forms of experience would take extensive mental training—when possible at all. It is hard to explain to a blind guy what it is like to see when you are deaf and dumb yourself.
Actually, now I’m curious. I wonder if any blind guys have ever hooked up with deaf chicks (or vice versa or vice vice). If I were in one of the groups I would definitely set out to do it at least once, even if only briefly. The two major communication lines cut off but two brains there that would, I expect, learn to cross that chasm regardless.
The solution that came to mind was typing (with a text-to-speech or text-to-braille solution for the blind person). If the deaf person could read lips and speak understandable English (and some can), they could just talk.
That seems to be the obvious solution. The part that makes me intrigued, however is how the increased overhead of verbal communication would encourage a heavily intuitive physical language to emerge. Even more fascinating would be if the participants started their interacting as children. I would expect a full physically mediated grammar to evolve.
I distinctly remember typing ‘deaf and dumb’. I must have edited that out while making the phrasing fit.