No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Breaking the Frame of Digital, Dream, and Waking Realities
Abstract
Just as our dreaming reality is constructed, our waking reality may also be constructed. While our waking reality influences our lives the most, other constructed realities also have impact. Yet, never before has such a large part of the population been so widely affected by another constructed reality beyond dreaming; specifically, our technologically constructed digital reality through video game play. One potential consequence of video game play is breaking the illusion or 'frame' of our dreams as reality through various dream experiences. Many of the world's wisdom traditions believe that waking reality is an illusion, and now this idea is supported by modern digital physics. While being aware of the illusory nature of waking reality is difficult, it may be easier to break the framework of perception or 'wake up' to the true nature of reality in alternative realities, such as digital and dreaming. This chapter will review the evidence collected in the video game and dream laboratory to explore how video game play is breaking the frame within dreaming realities.
... However, our basic assumption is that a game player's neurobiological and cardio-biological responses to game-play can be tracked with EEGs, VHR (variable heart rate), ECGs, and MEG while approximation to a flow state can be measured with player report. Dream states of game players are already being studied (Gackenbach, et al., 2015), and other measures of the relationship between dream states-such as lucid dreaming-and the psychological states of PEG players can be designed and developed. ...
According to theological precedents and science—just as sub-human sentient scales exist—so must super-human scales of sentience exist in a quantum field structured as fractal geometry. If the human organism is multi-functionally “conscious,” so is the quantum field in which it is embedded. Just as differences exist among the frequencies of light, differences exist in harmonic scales of the universal frequency spectrum. The loosely defined term “consciousness” is too limited to express the cosmic range of “sentient” access to frequencies. Though humans have unique choice-making agency, theological-philosophical and experiential precedents which place limits on its coherence. With their emphasis on coherent choice-making, PSYCHecology video games (PEGs) could be designed as “dreamlike” analogs to harmonize functional agency. According to Jungian principles, these dream analogs could be employed to reinforce coherent humanitarian sentience with mediated biofeedback for the purpose of healing the collective unconscious.
Hard-core video game players have developed a culture of their own, which has become large and potentially influential in today's society. While much of the research and media attention into the effects of gaming have focused on the negative consequences, there are also numerous positive effects, including those on various aspects of consciousness. The focus of this chapter is an exploration of various states of consciousness, including dreams, through interviews of 27 hard-core college student gamers. Video game play is found indeed to affect dreams, though there are still more similarities to than differences from the dream norms. The differences may be significant in their implications for the relationship between waking conscious experience of video game play and dreams.
Canadian students of varying cultural backgrounds took an online survey for course credit examining their dream experiences (Dream Intensity Scale, DIS; Yu, 2010) and history of media use, i.e., social media and video game play. Regression analyses onto the data found that the role of sex and culture, relative to history of media use, was strongest with total DIS scores as well as dream recall and nightmare information, which is often reported in the literature. Media use was also a component of these two dimensions but its role in predicting self-reported dream experiences was stronger for the other types of DIS information. In general the findings with media use seem to fall around age the subject began using social media or gaming as well as their use of MySpace, one of the first social media sites and thus presumably longest used. These findings support Lambrecht, Schredl, Henley-Einion, and Blagrove (2013) in terms of the continuity hypothesis of dreaming and high frequency of an activity resulting in more dream incorporation.
Cirucci (2013a) hypothesized that video game players would display similarities to social media users and that this relationship should be examined. This inquiry compared university students who varied in the degree to which they use social media (SMU) and play video games (VGP) on several dream indices and 1 personality inventory. Dreams have been shown to be continuous with waking mentation (Schredl, 2003) and to regulate negative emotions (Levin & Nielsen, 2009). Thus, they may offer a relatively unobstrusive measure of reactions to media use. Although there were meaningful differences between the 4 groups (high VGP/high SMU; high VGP/low SMU; low VGP/high SMU; low VGP/low SMU), most analysis resulted in no differences in dreams. Differences seemed to support the nightmare protection thesis of video game play such that high-end gamers, no matter the degree of social media use, suffered less from these negative types of dreams. Additionally, the high VGP/high SMU group had the thinnest psychological boundaries and thus were perhaps most susceptible to media effects. While at the same time this group of high-end media users showed the least negative self concepts in their recent dream content. This was reflected in their typical dream reports as well.
p>In response to the discussion between Hobson and Shredl the history of our program of research for coding dreams of video game players both after playing a game and without such consideration was reviewed. While many of our studies are about response style in dreams resulting from game play, we also have considered incorporation issues. Some of our previous results seemed to favour the continuity hypothesis others favoured the discontinuity perspective. Two approaches to coding gamers’ dreams were considered and critiqued. Some of these problems were then taken up in a compilation of data from three previous research studies where games were played the day before a dream and dream information was gathered. The 182 dreams were categorized into three groups, no game incorporation, partial game incorporation, and full game incorporation (i.e., the dream is the game). Individual difference and game content variables were unrelated to incorporation into subsequent dreams. However, this classification of dreams did result in various content differences.</p
This paper describes the phenomenon of game-biased perceptions and associations, or how, through intensive game play, elements from the game world can trigger thoughts and imagery outside the game world, influencing the perception and interpretation of stimuli in everyday life. Examples include the insertion of game elements in thoughts, perceptions and dreams, the use of specific vocabulary or slang – typical to the game world – in everyday conversations, and the association of real-life objects with game elements. Results from an online survey with habitual players of World of Warcraft confirm the existence of this phenomenon and show that the occurrence of these game-biased perceptions and associations is reinforced by increasing playing time and narrative involvement.
Past research has shown that high-end video game play is associated with bizarre dreams (Gackenbach, Kuruvilla, & Dopko, 2009a). The purpose of this study was to determine if the higher bizarreness in gamers’ dreams could be replicated and if so, to inquire if it is due to the unusual worlds they are exposed to during video game play, or to higher creativity. Through a questionnaire, a two-week dream diary and face-to-face administration of two creativity tests, this study partially replicated the bizarreness advantage associated with gaming previously found. This time number of hours playing a video game the night before was controlled. It was also found that video game play history is related to figural creativity. The positive bizarreness, gaming, creativity association was partially confirmed for males while video game play was associated negatively with bizarreness for women with no creativity link. In separate and joint factor analyses of the major variable clusters (i.e., media use including gaming, bizarreness, and creativity) it was clear that any associations were to gaming and not to other media use the day before the dream.
This study investigated gamers' auditory experiences as after effects of playing. This was done by classifying, quantifying, and analysing 192 experiences from 155 gamers collected from online videogame forums. The gamers' experiences were classified as: (i) involuntary auditory imagery (e.g., hearing the music, sounds or voices from the game), (ii) inner speech (e.g., completing phrases in the mind), (iii) auditory misperceptions (e.g., confusing real life sounds with videogame sounds), and (iv) multisensorial auditory experiences (e.g., hearing music while involuntary moving the fingers). Gamers heard auditory cues from the game in their heads, in their ears, but also coming from external sources. Occasionally, the vividness of the sound evoked thoughts and emotions that resulted in behaviours and copying strategies. The psychosocial implications of the gamers' auditory experiences are discussed. This study contributes to the understanding of the effects of auditory features in videogames, and to the phenomenology of non-volitional auditory experiences.
This inquiry is a replication and extension of a recent study with military gamers examining the thesis that playing video games might act as a type of nightmare protection. This hypothesis is based on the idea of a well-rehearsed defense due to game play, a numbing against violence, and the idea that memories in the 6 hours posttrauma are best interrupted with a visual cognitive task, like video game play. This replication was done using university students who had experienced a trauma in the past and had reported a dream associated with that trauma along with a recent dream. Controls were emotional reactivity and trauma history. We conclude that male high-end gamers seemed to be less troubled by nightmares while female high-end gamers were the most troubled by nightmares. So what differs between these two types of gamers? Three suggestions are considered: game genre, game sociability, and sex-role conflict. It seems that the nightmare protection hypothesis of video game play should be qualified to apply to male high-end gamers who play few casual games, play socially, and do not seem to experience sex-role conflict due to type of game play. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
A double-slit optical system was used to test the possible role of consciousness in the collapse of the quantum wavefunction. The ratio of the interference pattern's double-slit spectral power to its single-slit spectral power was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double slit as compared to away from it. Each test session consisted of 40 counterbalanced attention-toward and attention-away epochs, where each epoch lasted between 15 and 30 s. Data contributed by 137 people in six experiments, involving a total of 250 test sessions, indicate that on average the spectral ratio decreased as predicted (z=-4.36, p=6 x 10(-6)). Another 250 control sessions conducted without observers present tested hardware, software, and analytical procedures for potential artifacts; none were identified (z=0.43, p=0.67). Variables including temperature, vibration, and signal drift were also tested, and no spurious influences were identified. By contrast, factors associated with consciousness, such as meditation experience, electrocortical markers of focused attention, and psychological factors including openness and absorption, significantly correlated in predicted ways with perturbations in the double-slit interference pattern. The results appear to be consistent with a consciousness-related interpretation of the quantum measurement problem. (C) 2012 Physics Essays Publication. [DOI: 10.4006/0836-1398-25.2.157]
Two approaches to measuring dreaming and waking cognition were compared. Forty-three subjects wrote detailed descriptions of a dreaming and a waking experience and also used a questionnaire to evaluate the presence of particular types of cognition and metacognition in the target experience. Later, independent judges rated the subjects’ narrative reports for the incidence of the same types of cognition and meta cognition. A lower incidence of some types of cognition was observed when assessment was based on judges’ ratings of the narrative reports than when subjects themselves assessed the incidence of these events. However, the basic relationship between dreaming and waking cognition was consistent for both measurement approaches. Subjects’ and judges’ evaluations of dreaming and waking experiences did not differ for internal commentary, sudden attention, focused attention, public self-consciousness, emotion, self-reflection, and thwarted intentions, although both subjects and judges attributed choice to waking experiences more often than to dreaming experiences. The value of using converging measures to compare dreaming and waking cognition is discussed, as well as whether dreaming cognition is best conceptualized as continuous or discontinuous with waking cognition.
Meditation experiences evolve along a spectrum, ranging from an effortful struggle with the technique to deep transpersonal states where all dualities dissolve. The present study investigated to what extent the depth of meditation is influenced by the amount of meditation practice and the personality trait of absorption, and whether deep experiences influence the mindfulness of meditators in everyday life. A set of questionnaires (Meditation Depth Questionnaire, Tellegen Absorption Scale, and Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory) was distributed to meditators (N ¼ 251) practicing different techniques. A struc-tural equation modeling analysis revealed that absorption exerted a stronger influence on meditation depth (path coefficient: .48) than the amount of meditation practice (path coefficient: .21). Mindfulness was strongly influenced by meditation depth (path coefficient: .42) and moderately by absorption (path coef-ficient: .21). These complex relations between practice, personality, meditation experiences, and everyday behavior should be considered in future research on transpersonal states induced by meditation. Insight into our true nature is an ultimate goal of all spiritual traditions. In many mystical traditions, meditation practice is one primary approach to reach transper-sonal states of non-duality denoted with a variety of terms (unio mystica, samadhi, nirvana, satori, transcendental consciousness). During the deepest states of medita-tion, profound changes in the perception of reality and the self occur (Gifford-May & Thompson, 1994). Irrespective of the meditation technique, advanced practitioners report rather similar experiences, which can be arranged along a dimension of meditation depth (Piron, 2001). This dimension is conceived as a spectrum ranging from an effortful struggle with the requirements of the chosen technique to the realization of the fundamental ground of all being, where all dualities dissolve (Piron, 2001). In the current study on meditation experiences, the concept of medi-tation depth is used as the key component, because it takes into account the dif-ferences in experiences between individuals and can be assessed quantitatively. From the perspective of meditation research the question as to which factors deter-mine the progress of meditation is intriguing. Traditional teachings emphasize the importance of regular practice, e.g. the yoga sutras of Patanjali (sutra I.14; Vivekananda, 2001). However, the amount of practice required to reach deep medi-tations also depends on the inclination and openness towards mystical states, i.e., it is a matter of personality. In this respect, the personality trait of absorption is highly relevant, because it includes the openness for mystical states (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974) and the meditative skill to focus on an object without being disturbed (Smith, 1987), which is a key requirement for successful meditation.
The study of Game Transfer Phenomena is in its infancy. GTP have beenconceptualized as a new area of research into video games’ effects.Research into GTP attempts to understand how video game experiencesare transferred to the real world and the consequential psychosocial,cognitive and physiological effects by exploring players’ mental processes, sensory perceptions, and behaviours. This chapter introducesand overviews Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) studies and examineshow the GTP may contribute to the understanding of the mostundiscovered places of the human mind. A number of key question areanswer in this chapter.. What are GTP? What types of GTP have beenidentified and how do GTP seem to work? What games have beenassociated with GTP? What benefits and potential venues do the GTPstudies offer? The authors’ conclusions and hypotheses to explain GTPexperiences are supported by a review of literature, and by examples of video game players’ experiences. The transfer of video game experiencesinto the real world have been clearly identified in players’ experiencescollected in GTP studies to date.
Abstract Online social networks, such as Facebook, have gained immense popularity and potentially affect the way people build and maintain interpersonal relationships. The present study sought to examine time spent on online social networks, as it relates to intimacy and relationship satisfaction experienced in romantic relationships. Results did not find relationships between an individual's usage of online social networks and his/her perception of relationship satisfaction and intimacy. However, the study found a negative relationship between intimacy and the perception of a romantic partner's use of online social networks. This finding may allude to an attributional bias in which individuals are more likely to perceive a partner's usage as negative compared to their own usage. Additionally, it was found that intimacy mediates the relationship between online social network usage and overall relationship satisfaction, which suggests that the level of intimacy experienced in a relationship may serve as a buffer that protects the overall level of satisfaction.
Soldiers who play video games to varying degrees were solicited to fill out a survey on dreams and gaming. A prescreening filtered out those who were not soldiers, who did not game, and who were suffering from various psychological problems in the last six months. The remaining soldiers filled out these inventories: general and military demographics, history of video game play, Emotional Reactivity and Numbing Scale (ERNS), and a Trauma Inventory. They were then asked to provide two dreams, one recent and one that was impactful from their military service. Following the military dream they filled out Impactful Dreams Questionnaire (IDQ) about that dream only. Dream content analysis was conducted using threat simulation, war content, and lucid/control/gaming content. High- and low-end frequency gamer groups were identified and compared on these dream content scales. Because the nightmare literature shows that affect load and distress are predictors of nightmare suffering, ERNS and Trauma history were covariates in the ANCOVA's on gamer group × dream type. It was found that the high-end gaming group exhibited less threat and war content in their military dreams than the low-end group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The improvement of various cognitive skills associated with video game play has been well documented; however, the development of consciousness implications have not been considered. In the present study several potential indicators of consciousness development, including and especially lucid dreaming frequency, were examined as a function of video game play. In the first study, high video game players were more likely to report lucid dreams, observer dreams, and dream control when dream recall frequency and motion disorientation during play were controlled. There were no similar differences in other consciousness development indices. In the second study, a slightly different pattern of results occurred because of respondents all being frequent players. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the extent to which different kinds of dream elements are affected by different types of dream bizarreness (BZ). All expressions describing 1 of 14 contents (self, place, time, persons, animals, body parts, plants, objects, events, actions, language, cognition, emotions, sensory experiences) in 32 female college students' home-based dream diaries were scored. Each element was categorized as non-bizarre or bizarre (incongruous, vague, discontinuous). Results show that BZ is not randomly distributed across different dream contents and that distinct types of BZ show a dissimilar pattern of distribution. Language and cognition are the most and self is the least incongruous content. Place is high on both discontinuity and vagueness. It is suggested that an adequate baseline for what is bizarre in dreams is the S's personal waking reality, and for the proportion of bizarreness, the amount of comparable non-bizarre dream elements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested the new threat simulation theory of the biological function of dreaming by analysing 592 dreams from 52 Ss (aged 19–38 yrs) with a rating scale developed for quantifying threatening events in dreams. The main predictions were that dreams contain more frequent and more severe threats than waking life does; that dream threats are realistic; and that they primarily threaten the Dream Self who tends to behave in a relevant defensive manner in response to them. These predictions were confirmed and the theory empirically supported. It is suggested that the threat simulation theory of dreaming may have wider implications for theories about the function of consciousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Revonsuo proposes an evolutionary theory of dreaming in which dreams allow an individual to prepare for real world threats in the safety of the virtual setting of the dream world. Based upon previous work examining the dreams of video game players, it was hypothesized that high-end gamers would experience fewer threat simulation dreams because of frequent threat resolution rehearsal during game play. Subjects were asked to report a night before dream and fill out surveys regarding their gaming history, media use, and dream experiences. Using a factor analysis, support for the main hypothesis was found. Individuals with a history of game play experienced fewer threat severity variables in their dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Lucid dreams, as well as control dreams, have recently been reported as associated with video game play (Gackenbach, 2006). In this study, dreams were collected from the morning after a night of rested sleep as well as electronic media use from the day before the dream. In a factor analysis, lucid and control dreams were associated with all electronic media use but most strongly with video game play. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In a series of studies, J. Gackenbach has been mapping the effects of heavy video game play on consciousness, including dreaming. The reason that gamers are being investigated is that they represent a group of people who are engaging in the most immersive media experience widely available today. With its audio and visual interactive nature as well as the long hours often required to master a game, they are an opportune group to study media effects upon consciousness. In this study, the focus was on dream bizarreness. Dream bizarreness has been variously thought to be the differentiator between waking and dreaming thought, an indication of creativity, and most recently, as a model for solving the binding problem in consciousness. Using A. Revonsuo’s and C. Salmivalli’s scale for dream content analysis, it was found that high-end gamers evidenced more bizarre dreams than did low-end gamers in two of three types of bizarreness categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
IntroductionMindfulness is a property of consciousness which isbeginning to receive considerable attention from psychol-ogists. It has been described as a non-elaborative, non-judgmental, present-centered awareness where all thoughtsand feeling are acknowledged and accepted (Bishop et al.2004). In a state of mindfulness, attention is regulated suchthat increased awareness is brought to the current field ofthoughts, feelings, and sensations, in addition to beimmersed non-judgmentally in the present moment. Thisstate of mind promotes a state of increased psychologicalacceptance which is the key therapeutic benefit of mind-fulness when used to treat problems of anger, stress, or evenpain (Tusaie & Edds 2009; Wright, Day & Howells 2009).Eastern meditative traditions suggest that being presentto the moment is the foundational idea in the developmentof consciousness (Holzel & Ott 2006). This function ofconscious attention has recently been focused upon byWestern psychologists who view it as a cognitive style(Sternberg 2000). Some of this interest may be due topresent-centered awareness being the hallmark of mindful-ness and various associations between mindfulness andwell-being have been identified. For instance, increasingmindfulness has been the cornerstone of several therapiesaimed at preventing substance-abuse relapse, reducingstress and anxiety, and even aiding in dialectical behaviortherapy (Brown & Ryan 2003). More directly, mindfulnessis useful in disengaging individuals from automaticthoughts, habits, and unhealthy behavior patterns therebyfostering a more self-endorsed and informed behavioralregulation (Baer, Smith, & Allen 2004). Along the samelines, mindfulness meditation has been linked to many ofthe basic elements of positive psychology through theenhancement of metacognitive skills and positively chang-ing mental schemas related to emotion, health, and illness(Hamilton, Kitzman, & Guyotte 2006). Finally, emergingresearch hints that mindfulness may have a significantpositive effect on combating mental illness (Orzech 2009).Several researchers have also noted an associationbetween scores on mindfulness scales and psychologicalabsorption (Baer et al. 2004; Brown & Ryan 2003; Holzel& Ott 2006). The findings are mixed such that with a shortmindfulness scale, Brown and Ryan found an inverserelationship to absorption. The other two research groupsfound a positive relationship between the two constructs,when using longer scales designed to examine facets ofmindfulness. Perhaps, a key difference between themeasures used by these groups is that the scale used byBrown and Ryan (the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale(MAAS)) assesses individual differences in the frequencyof mindful states over time. Whereas the modifiedKentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) usedby Baer et al. and the custom scales used by Holzel andOtt, are multifaceted measures which asses overallmindfulness. While the frequency of mindful episodesdiffers among individuals, so does the intensity—and thisis an important metric.Episodes of heightened mindfulness are the primary goalof traditional eastern yoga (Salmon, Lush, Jablonski, andSephton 2009). However, the same characteristics of amindful experience can be elicited from a variety of highlycognitively engaging tasks. For instance, "flow" is a termused to describe the subjective mental state of elite athletes
New media forums have created a unique opportunity for citizens to participate in a variety of social and political contexts. As new social technologies are being utilized in a variety of ways, the public is able to interact more effectively in activities within their communities. The Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media addresses opportunities and challenges in the theory and practice of public involvement in social media. Highlighting various communication modes and best practices being utilized in citizen-involvement activities, this book is a critical reference source for professionals, consultants, university teachers, practitioners, community organizers, government administrators, citizens, and activists.
This supplement of the International Journal of Dream Research includes the abstracts of presenters who gave consent to the publishing. The abstracts are categorized into thematic groups and within the category sorted according to the last name of the first presenter. Affiliations are included only for the first author. A name register at the end is also provided.
A felt sense of presence in games versus dreams was measured by a self-report inventory applied immediately after playing an immersive video game for 20-25 min (a single session) and immediately after waking up (from a dream, at home, for 14 days after the game session). After prescreening, 40 subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups to play a video game. These groups differed in terms of the fidelity (VR type goggles versus TV monitor) and interactivity (playing versus watching). 117 usable dream reports were collected. The results of ANCOVA over the whole data did not give significant effects, but in item-by-item testing, four of 12 items showed significant dream/game presence differences. Three were in the direction of dreams eliciting a stronger sense of presence than games and one in the opposite direction. In a further content analysis, the dream presence was found to be related to dream aggression.
A new waking influence has emerged that is becoming so widely experienced that it bears further consideration in its own right as to it's influence on subsequent night time dreams. That is, digital life. It ranges from listening to music to texting to checking facebook status to playing video games to information checking. All of these activities are computer mediated. In this inquiry, students at a western Canadian university indicated if they had played computer games or used the computer for non-gaming purposes during the day prior to a recent dream they reported. Respondents indicated their confidence about the type of dream they reported as well their video game play habits and generic media used the day prior to the dream. There was some indication that the high end non-gaming computer use group had more lucid (females only) and control dreams but less bizarre dreams. Unlike previous research there were no differences in nightmares or bad dreams among groups. This was discussed in terms of previous video game play and dreams research.
A program of research into the effects of video game play on subsequent night-time dreams is reviewed. The chapter begins with a brief introduction to the value of dreams in terms of information processing and a discussion of why video game play is valuable for the study of dreams. Three areas of inquiry in terms of video game effects are then examined. These include cognitive dimensions of dreams such as lucid and control dreams, emotional dream elements such as nightmares, and the creative elements of dreams such as their bizarreness. In each case, video game play appears to have had an impact on these dream elements. Specifically, there is some indication of increased lucid dreaming, but also a strong finding of increased control in dreams. Additionally, nightmares may be less frightening for video game players. Finally, gamers' dreams are more bizarre even when media exposure the day before the dream is controlled. These effects are explained as parallel to the effects from the practice of meditation on dreams. Both video game play and meditation require prolonged focused attention.
As our lives become increasingly dominated by mediated experiences, presence scholars have noted that an increasing number of these mediated experiences evoke (tele)-presence, perceptions that ignore or misconstrue the role of the medium in the experience. In this paper we explore an interesting countertrend that seems to be occurring as well. In a variety of contexts, people are experiencing not an illusion that a mediated experience is in fact nonmediated, but the illusion that a nonmediated "real" experience is mediated. Drawing on news reports and an online survey, we identify 3 categories of this "illusion of mediation": positive (when people perceive natural beauty as mediated), negative (when people perceive a disaster, crime, or other tragedy such as the events of September 11, 2001, as mediated), and unusual (when close connections between people's "real life" activities and mediated experiences lead them to confuse the former with the latter). We label this phenomenon inverse presence and consider its place and value in a comprehensive theory of presence, its possible antecedents and consequences, and what it suggests about the nature of our lives in the 21st century.
This prospective social experiment tests a new theory and technology for alleviating violent conflict through reducing societal stress in an underlying field of “collective consciousness.” It was predicted that group practice of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field (the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program) during August and September, 1983, in Jerusalem, would reduce stress in the collective consciousness and behavior of Israel and Lebanon. Box-Jenkins Arima impact assessment, cross-correlation, and transfer function analyses were used to study the effects of changes in the size of the group on several variables and composite indices reflecting (a) the quality of life in Jerusalem (automobile accidents, fires, and crime), (b) the quality of life in Israel (crime, stock market, and national mood, derived from news content analysis), and (c) the war in Lebanon (war deaths of all factions and war intensity, derived from news content analysis). Increases in the size of the group had a statistically significant effect in the predicted direction on the individual variables and on all composite quality-of-life indices. The effects of holidays, temperature, weekends, and other forms of seasonality were explicitly controlled and could not account for these results. Cross-correlations and transfer functions indicated that the group had a leading relationship to change on the quality-of-life indicators, supporting a causal interpretation.
Evidence of reflective awareness and metacognitive monitoring during REM sleep dreaming poses a significant challenge to the commonly held view of dream cognition as necessarily deficient relative to waking cognition. To date, dream metacognition has not received the theoretical or experimental attention it deserves. As a result, discussions of dream cognition have been underrepresented in theoretical accounts of consciousness. This paper argues for using a converging measures approach to investigate the range and limits of cognition and metacognition across the sleep–wakefulness cycle. The paradigm developed by LaBerge and his colleagues to study "lucid-control" dreaming offers one such framework for relating phenomenological, cognitive, and physiological measures. In a lucid-control dream, the dreamer is both aware that the experimental context is a dream (lucidity) and has the ability to intentionally regulate aspects of the dream (control). Subjects can make patterns of deliberate eye movements to signal from the dream and thus index significant events such as the time of lucidity onset and the completion of previously agreed-upon tasks in the dream. Lucid dreaming and other examples of reflective awareness during dreaming have important implications for models of human cognition. The existence of these phenomena raises fundamental questions about current assumptions regarding "state" constraints on consciousness and cognition (i.e., the notion that dreaming involves exclusively nonconscious processing while waking involves conscious processing).
Nightmares—vivid, emotionally dysphoric dreams—are quite common and are associated with a broad range of psychiatric conditions. However, the origin of such dreams remains largely unexplained, and there have been no attempts to reconcile repetitive traumatic nightmares with nontraumatic nightmares, dysphoric dreams that do not awaken the dreamer, or with more normative dreams. Based on recent research in cognitive neuroscience, sleep physiology, fear conditioning, and emotional-memory regulation, we propose a multilevel neurocognitive model that unites waking and sleeping as a conceptual framework for understanding a wide spectrum of disturbed dreaming. We propose that normal dreaming serves a fear-extinction function and that nightmares reflect failures in emotion regulation. We further suggest that nightmares occur as a result of two processes that we term affect load—a consequence of daily variations in emotional pressures—and affect distress—a disposition to experience events with high levels of negative emotional reactivity.
Zusammenfassung Durch eine Untersuchung der Stoßvorgänge wird die Auffassung entwickelt, daß die Quantenmechanik in der Schrödingerschen Form nicht nur die stationären Zustände, sondern auch die Quantensprünge zu beschreiben gestattet.
This article reviews and summarizes a number of published studies as well as recent unpublished work by the authors on Boundaries (Thin vs. Thick Boundaries) and various aspects of dreaming. Analysis of data by groups as well as by individuals demonstrates a surprisingly high correlation between thinness of boundaries and dream recall frequency. Thin boundaries appears to be the only personality measure clearly related to dream recall frequency. We also demonstrate a relationship between thin boundaries and dream content. Dreams of persons with thin boundaries are rated more dream-like, more emotional, and more bizarre in a number of studies. Thin boundaries are correlated especially with Central Image Intensity—a measure that is elevated in powerful dreams, dreams after traumatic events, and dreams after 9/11/01. These results strengthen our view that the “trait” continuum running from very thick boundaries at one end to very thin boundaries at the other is closely related to the “state” continuum running from focused waking activity at one end, through waking fantasy and daydreaming, to dreaming at the other end.
This chapter advances a theory about the relation between technology and intelligence. The chapter proposes that there are three privileged ways for individuals to relate to technology. First, individuals invent new technologies to solve past and present practical problems. Second, individuals receive a technology as a part of their cultural heritage. Third, individuals adapt to technologies that are new innovations in their cultural background. These different paths to technology involve different processes of assimilation and accommodation. By inventing new technologies, the individual is shaping the environment, so his or her relation with the technology is more or less transparent. Technologies that are received by cultural transmission involve the transmission of intentional affordances and, accordingly, shape human behavior. Finally, adaptation to new technologies involves a process of reciprocal adjustment between the technology and the individual. The authors propose that these three paths to technology represent "ideals." In effect, these paths cohabit so the relation between mind and technology is not a deterministic one. The chapter closes by suggesting that an intelligent (and wise) use of technology involves awareness of the modifiability of both mind and technology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved) (from the preface)
Transcendental Meditation, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is a simple technique practised for 15-20 minutes twice daily, sitting comfortably with eyes closed. It can be learned easily by anyone regardless of age, educational background, or culture. The technique is effortless and requires no belief, nor any change in lifestyle or diet. Over five million people have learned Transcendental Meditation (TM) around the world over the past 50 years. Instruction involves a standard seven-step course taught by qualified teachers who have undergone an extensive and systematic training programme, ensuring quality and consistency in instruction worldwide. Scientific research on Transcendental Meditation comprises more than 600 studies
An abstract is not available.
A replication and variation of a study by Kearins (1975) reporting superior visual memory skills among Western Desert Aboriginal children was carried out among non-tribal, medium contact Aboriginal children and white suburban children in North Queensland. Kearins' finding of superior visual memory skills was not generalizable to non-tribal Aborigines. There was no significant difference between ethnic groups in the recall of natural and manmade objects or of letters of the alphabet, but significantly more objects than letters were better recalled by both ethnic groups. The effectiveness of labelling as an aid to memory was discussed. There was no evidence suggesting differences in imaginal or verbal coding styles between the ethnic groups tested.
Investigated the relationship between field independence and lucid dreaming ability in 3 studies over a 5-yr period with 278 Ss. It was hypothesized that field independence would be more characteristic of Ss who were able to recognize that they were dreaming while still in the dream (i.e., lucid dreamers), than of those who did not possess this ability. The following measures of field independence were utilized: the Group Embedded Figures Test, Embedded Figures Test, and Rod and Frame Test. Results indicate that frequent lucid dreaming ability was associated with field independence, while field dependence was associated with Ss who reported having never or having infrequently dreamt lucidly. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The so-called continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that waking experiences are reflected in dreams. The formulation of the continuity hypothesis is very broad and vague, however, so that it seems necessary to investigate factors which might affect the incorporation rate of waking-life experiences. A review of the different research paradigms, e. g. assessing temporal references of dream elements, studying the effects of the pre-sleep situation on dreams, will be presented. Various methodological issues which limit the generalizability of the findings in this area will also be addressed. After this overview, several factors such as (a) the time interval between waking-life experience and dream occurrence, (b) emotional involvement, (c) the type of waking-life experience, (d) personality traits and (e) the time of the night (time interval between sleep onset and dream onset) for which empirical data indicates an influence on incorporation rates of waking-life experiences will be listed. A mathematical model is proposed which should enable researchers to identify influencing factors and their interactions making a more precise formulation of the continuity hypothesis possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two experiments examined whether video game expertise transfers to performance on measures of spatial ability. In Experiment 1, skilled Tetris players outperformed non-Tetris players on mental rotation of shapes that were either identical to or very similar to Tetris shapes, but not on other tests of spatial ability. The pattern of performance on those mental rotation tasks revealed that skilled Tetris Players used the same mental rotation procedures as non-Tetris players, but when Tetris shapes were used, they executed them more quickly. In Experiment 2, non-Tetris players who received 12 hours of Tetris-playing experience did not differ from matched control students in pretest-to-posttest gains on tests of spatial ability. However, Tetris-experienced participants were more likely to use an alternative type of mental rotation for Tetris shapes than were Tetris-inexperienced participants. The results suggest that spatial expertise is highly domain-specific and does not transfer broadly to other domains. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
I argue that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) the human species is very likely to become extinct before
reaching a ‘posthuman’ stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations
of its evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows
that the belief that there is a significant chance that we shall one day become posthumans who run ancestor‐simulations is
false, unless we are currently living in a simulation. I discuss some consequences of this result.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden zunchst exakte Definitionen der Worte: Ort, Geschwindigkeit, Energie usw. (z. B. des Elektrons) aufgestellt, die auch in der Quantenmechanik Gltigkeit behalten, und es wird gezeigt, da kanonisch konjugierte Gren simultan nur mit einer charakteristischen Ungenauigkeit bestimmt werden knnen ( 1). Diese Ungenauigkeit ist der eigentliche Grund fr das Auftreten statistischer Zusammenhnge in der Quantenmechanik. Ihre mathematische Formulierung gelingt mittels der Dirac-Jordanschen Theorie ( 2). Von den so gewonnenen Grundstzen ausgehend wird gezeigt, wie die makroskopischen Vorgnge aus der Quantenmechanik heraus verstanden werden knnen ( 3). Zur Erluterung der Theorie werden einige besondere Gedankenexperimente diskutiert ( 4).