Neurological format wars

[davywavy]

In an interesting post yesterday, song_of_copper mentioned a piece of research into dreaming, and whether or not we dream in colour. According to the latest New Scientist,
People who were children during the era of black and white movies and TV dream in monochrome more often than younger people do. Apparently there is a point during childhood when our 'dreaming style' develops, and what we watch on the big or small screen seems to influence that. ,
and I find that extremely interesting.
My immediate reaction to reading this was along the lines of "of course people born 50 years ago dream in black and white - the world only turned colour in the early 1960's!", but the more I thought about that joke the more I realised the truth of it; it seems that our visual imaginative media define how our brain processes our own automatic imaginative behavoiur.
I dream in colour; I know some people who don't (or say they don't), and whilst it's difficult to know for sure what colours people before moving pictures and even photography dreamed, there are enough reports of people having vivid and colour-filled dreams in victorian literature to give us a clue.

The question this really makes me ask is whether or not our dreams have format wars? in the late seventies, did people with VHS have grainer, lower quality dreams than people with BetaMax? And do people who watch movies in BluRay and Hi-Def now have dreams in really sharp definition, possibly with surround sound?
I reckon I'm going to watch more 3-D films with lots of special effects. My dreams have beena bit dull lately and they could do with livening up. Perhaps I ought to defrag my frontal lobes first?

Comments

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

When I played older computer games my dreams had that strange, jumpy quality from them.

I had a friend who played Donkey Kong so much that his mother found him in the corridor, sleep walking and jumping imaginary barrels.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

If that story is true, it's ace.

I was wondering if people who watch a lot of Satellite TV have dreams with periodically pixellate and then dump for a few seconds.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

Sadly that is possibly true.

I wonder if dreams in the US are very short and interrupted by your subconscious trying to advertise to you "Now with added Freudian subtext!"

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

And in Soviet Russia, your television dreams you!

[(Anonymous)]

I find cheese to be a great help to quality dreaming. My golfing pirates dream was inspired by a hefty chunk of Marksbury.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

This is because the blue mold in cheese is related to LSD; it's a very mild dose which you don't notice when you're awake but it's enough to cause your brain to do wierd stuff when you're asleep - hence cheese giving you dreams.

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

That is very cool. I hope it's true.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Of course it's true! I'm a psychologist, you know.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I was thnking trancendental meditation; that also has the advantage of clearing my cache.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

How do you explain those who dream more than just audio-visually then - ie temperature/texture/smell, etc?

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

You must have the best TV ever!

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Those aren't dreams - you really are being abducted by aliens and experimented on.

[song-of-copper.livejournal.com]

Gosh, fame: a footnote in the annals of davywavy! ;-P

I wonder whether subliminal advertising could work after all? Could a really cleverly-constructed advert (not necessarily a 'good' one that is fun to watch, but made to infect your dreams) make someone dream about a particular product, and then rush out the next day to buy it?

And I suppose, thinking some more about it, horror movies and creepy stories have always been reckoned to 'give you nightmares', so there's no reason why mundane TV shows and films can't give you mundane dreams. (Maybe there is something in those horror flicks where someone watches a nasty video with unpleasant psychological repercussions...)

And finally...

I'd really like there to be dream trailers. Just as you're dropping off... that 'movie trailer' voice starts up saying "This evening... a man faces his ultimate fear... that man is... NAKED IN PUBLIC! Now showing in your brain..." - or whatever! ;-P

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Well, that would assume that being naked in public is my ultimate fear...

I'm not convinced that subliminals work at all - I've never seen any evidence for it doing so, and it's what I did my dissertation on (shows off), so making adverts that work like the Max Headroom-style blipverts just wouldn't work, I don't think.

[song-of-copper.livejournal.com]

Ah, I shall bow to your superior expertise then! ;-P That's a relief, I don't really want product placement in my dreams...

[fonnparr.livejournal.com]

David's version of that would surely involve him out walking one evening and happenning upon a thousand semi-naked women out on some sort of midnight moonwalk - twice.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

You're just jealous.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

I can't honestly remember if my dreams are in colour or not. Mostly they seem anxiety related.

I really want sex dreams and never get them. (And no, looking at porn doesnt help)

[fonnparr.livejournal.com]

Try abstinance - wet dreams are sometimes the body's reaction against too much sperm build-up

[(Anonymous)]

I too assumed it was just boastfulness.

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

I dream in colour, but it's universally dark and washed out.

This may have something to do with having spent the first 8 months of my life blind.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that! How come?

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

Congenital cateracts. Probably due to exposure to a UV lamp as a result of jaundice.