A professor of psychology at Grant MacEwan College has conducted several studies on the relationship that gamers have with their dreams.
They found that high-end gamers typically experience more lucid dreams where the subject was aware that they were dreaming and could control their activities. This led to another study, whose data is still being analyzed, but the Prof. hypothesizes that daytime video game play may serve as a rehearsal for threat function that dreams may serve. This is based on the theory that our nightmares are actually survival mechanisms in which we undergo traumatic events in our dreams to prepare for them in the real world. The surprising discovery of this was that many gamers do not have nightmares because they aren't scared. As Gackenbach notes in her conclusion to one of the studies, what better way to prepare for a dream than by constantly engaging in an out-of-body virtual reality?
What is extremely unusual about all of this data is that typically lucid and out-of-body dreams require a great deal of meditation. Nightmares, which are often the product of real-life trauma such as being assaulted or post-traumatic stress disorder, may be significantly less unpleasant for people who play games.
There were several other observation that need to be corroborated with further data. Gamers may have a higher average number of dreams that feature little to no actual people and instead involve animals or other fantasy creatures. They also might experience more out of body or third person dreams than the average dreamer. It would be extremely helpful to Gackenbach?s study if anyone with a remote interest would fill out the survey offered here [http://www.artsci.macewan.ca/videogames/].
Has anyone experienced anything similar to this with their own dreams? There was a previous thread to this, but in response to this research, how much do you feel is valid?
They found that high-end gamers typically experience more lucid dreams where the subject was aware that they were dreaming and could control their activities. This led to another study, whose data is still being analyzed, but the Prof. hypothesizes that daytime video game play may serve as a rehearsal for threat function that dreams may serve. This is based on the theory that our nightmares are actually survival mechanisms in which we undergo traumatic events in our dreams to prepare for them in the real world. The surprising discovery of this was that many gamers do not have nightmares because they aren't scared. As Gackenbach notes in her conclusion to one of the studies, what better way to prepare for a dream than by constantly engaging in an out-of-body virtual reality?
What is extremely unusual about all of this data is that typically lucid and out-of-body dreams require a great deal of meditation. Nightmares, which are often the product of real-life trauma such as being assaulted or post-traumatic stress disorder, may be significantly less unpleasant for people who play games.
There were several other observation that need to be corroborated with further data. Gamers may have a higher average number of dreams that feature little to no actual people and instead involve animals or other fantasy creatures. They also might experience more out of body or third person dreams than the average dreamer. It would be extremely helpful to Gackenbach?s study if anyone with a remote interest would fill out the survey offered here [http://www.artsci.macewan.ca/videogames/].
Has anyone experienced anything similar to this with their own dreams? There was a previous thread to this, but in response to this research, how much do you feel is valid?
