Dreams and video game play games for health conference 2010

Dreams and Video Game Play
Jayne Gackenbach
Grant MacEwan University &
Athabasca University
Games for Health 2010 Conference
Boston, MA
gackenbachj@macewan.ca

Why are dreams important?
Rich history across most cultures
Royal road to the unconscious – Freud
While opened up dreams as important, he also pathologized them
With discovery of REM sleep and the sleep laboratory, dreams entered science
While not local only to REM, those that are most recalled and most often puzzled about are typically REM dreams

Why are dreams important?
Function of dreams increasingly clear
Evolutionary threat/play (Revonsuo; Humphrey)
Emotional Regulation, especially negative emotions (Kramer; Nielsen; Zadra)
Memory integration & consolidation (Stickgold)
Problem-solving, creative inspiration (Barrett)
Metacognition (LaBerge; Kahan; Kahn)
All this serves personal and interpersonal needs if shared and processed but need not be

Why study gamers dreams?
Media saturated society
Video game play represents the most immersive and interactive media experience
Isn’t it all just incorporation?
Yes gamers dream about games
And no,
Example of value of studying gamers dreams...
Gamers dreams show fundamental structural differences

Presence in Games and Dreams
Dreams have been called the “gold standard” for presence (sense of being there) in VR and games (Revonsuo; Moller & Barbera)
Never measured until now (Gackenbach & Rosie, 2010)
Played Mirror’s Edge in lab before sleep
Gathered dreams for next two weeks
Presence measured after game and after dreams

Presence sum score NO DIFFERENCE
Items (12) got 4 differences 8 NO DIFFERENCE:
The dream/game caused real feelings and emotions for me. (Dream > Game)
Overall how much did the things/people in the dream/game look like they would if you had experienced them in waking reality? (Dream > Game)
How much did you feel like the events of the dream/game were happening to you? (Dream > Game)
How often did you feel "My body was in bed, but my mind was inside my dream" or "My body was in this room, but my mind was inside the environment I saw/heard"? (Game > Dream)
Presence in Games and Dreams

Gamer Defined
Play video games on average several times a week
Typical playing session more than 1 or 2 hours
Played 50 or more video games over your lifetime
Been playing video games since before grade three
Type of Game Preferred only considered in latest studies, seemed to make no difference 5 years ago

Dream Dimensions Examined
Lucid and Control Dreams
Bizarreness and Creativity
Nightmares and Threat Simulation

Lucid – Control Dreams
Gackenbach, J.I. (2006). Video game play and lucid dreams: Implications for the development of consciousness. Dreaming, 16(2), 96-110.
Gackenbach, J.I. & Kuruvilla, B. (2008). Video game play effects on dreams: Self-evaluation and content analysis. Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2(2), 169-186.
Gackenbach, J.I. (2009). Video Game Play and Consciousness Development: A Replication and Extension. International Journal of Dream Research, 2(1), 3-11.

Lucid – Control Dreams & Gaming
Subject #014: Lucidity triggered by an event
Michael: Well, once Jean Grey (a marvel comic and video game character) got loose and started killing people, I was like this is really weird this is probably a dream and it was like right after that she showed up and I told myself that I need to wake up. I thought that something bad was supposed to happen and I didn’t want it to happen so I should wake up.
Gackenbach, et al. (2009)

Control Dreaming
3=
sometimes
2= rarely

Lucid Dreaming
3=
sometimes
2= rarely

Gamer Sample Lucid/Control Dream
Subject #014: Lucidity triggered by an event
Well, once Jean Grey (a marvel comic and video game character) got loose and started killing people, I was like this is really weird this is probably a dream and it was like right after that she showed up and I told myself that I need to wake up. I thought that something bad was supposed to happen and I didn’t want it to happen so I should wake up.
Gackenbach, 2006, 2009a, b; & Kurvilla, 2008;
Gackenbach, et al. (2009).

Methodological Refinement
Gackenbach, J.I. (2009) Electronic media and lucid-control dreams: Morning after reports. Dreaming, 19(1), 1-6.

Methodological Refinement
Previous studies long term retrospective memory
Collected Dream report and when
Normal sleep length and rested amount
Questions on media use history and media used the day before dream
Questions reflecting about dream reported
Dreams (N=152) for analysis were chosen if:
Last night
Rested (had typical amount of sleep)

Principal Component Factor Analysis on Dream, Gamer and Media Use
Last night, rested dreams, N = 152
Dreams Self Labeled
Day Before Media Use

Parallels video gaming/lucidity
Video game Play
video games technologically constructed alternative realities
Video gaming has been associated with improved spatial skills
Low motion sickness needed to play a lot
High absorption is reported by players
Lucid/control dreams
Dream worldsbiologically constructed alternative realities
Lucid dreamers show better spatial skills
Lucid dreamers have better vestibular systems (not susceptible to motion sickness)
Meditation is highly associated with lucidity and is training in developing one pointed absorption

Is the Lucidity – Video Game Play Association Self Selection?
Yes
To be a serious player you need to not suffer motion sickness
For serious game play spatial skills are an advantage
Most games of serious players cater to boys
Those who are able to get absorbed should do better
No
Almost all children through to young adults play some form these days
Spatial skills improve with play
Girl games are being developed and is a large growing market
Attention/absorption improve with play

Bottom Line
Gaming is too wide spread to reduce to purely self selection
There is increasing social pressure to play
Gaming is only one part of our networked life
Percent growth in US 2006-2007

Original Dream Content Analysis
Hall &Van de Castle Coding System
Frequency equals intensity
High inter-rater reliability
Well developed norms
Uses categories which are pertinent to waking concerns that may influence dreaming.
Those that lead to further research were:
characters, aggression and misfortune.
Gackenbach, J.I., Matty, I., Kuruvilla, B., Samaha, A. N., Zederayko, A., Olischefski, J. & Von Stackelberg, H. (2009). Video game play: Waking and dreaming consciousness. S. Krippner (Ed.), Perchance To Dream, Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, p. 239-253.
27 gamers
56 dreams
male norms

Significant Differences from Male Norms
More dead or imaginary characters appearing in dream reports (21% vs 0%).
Why be human in a game? They have fewer powers than other types of creatures.

Dead or Imaginary Characters
Subject 001- Dream 11
“I dreamt I was a character is Underworld 2, it was a werewolf character and then I became a 3rd person. It was the two main characters, it was the vampire girl and a hybrid werewolf character and I was another werewolf character beside them and we went into a vampire coven and we got to the weapons section of the vampire coven and then I woke up”
Later looked at bizarreness due to this finding

Dream Aggression
Smaller number of dreams with aggression (32% vs 47%)
Yetmore intense aggression (namely physical aggression, 86% vs 50%) when it happened

Dream Aggression Example
Subject 002- Dream 6
“… I went outside … with my cat and shot these criminals that were trying to eat my dad and they were on top of my dad trying to eat his arms and he was fighting them off, and they were trying to hold him down and bite his shoulders and there was blood and stuff. And it was a very graphic shootout for a dream; it was very blood and guts ya know? And when I ran out of ammunition there was like pistol whipping and stuff going on and that one sticks out in my mind because it was very graphic…”.

Dream Misfortunes
Fewer Misfortunes
(7% vs 36%)
Fewer Bodily Misfortunes
(0% vs 29%)
Aggression and misfortune findings lead to threat simulation and nightmare questions
Thus less victim /more control

Dream Bizarreness
Gackenbach, J. I., Kuruvilla, B., & Dopko, R. (2009). Video game play and dream bizarreness. Dreaming, 19(4), 218-231.
Gackenbach, J.I. & Dopko, R. (in submission). The Relationship between Video Game Play, Dream Bizarreness, and Creativity. Consciousness and Cognition.

Domhoff – 2007 meta-analysis
dreams are more coherent, patterned and thoughtful than previously suggested
still some bizarreness in adult dreams
far less than what was expected based
Illusion of Dream Bizarreness

Methods
Study 1: Recent Dreams
Self reported dream questions
Various media use information
Study 2: Two Week Online Dream Diary
Features that were bizarre for subject
Various media use information
Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)
Verbal and the figural tests
Revonsuo & Salmivalli Content Analysis

Unusual (subject)
Bizarre (judges)
Non-bizarre (judges)
Low Game Group
High Game Group
Covariates: sex, # words in dream, # hours of video game play day before dreamDreams were 279 from low end gamers and 162 from high end gamers

Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
No gamer group difference for verbal test
Significant differences for figural test favoring high gamer group

Gaming, Bizarreness & Creativity

Factor Analysis on Game Play, Lucid Related Dream & Bizarreness Variables
Gaming loads with and without lucidity-control but with lucidity-control you have bizarreness
Gackenbach, J.I. & Hunt, H. (2010, April). Video Game Play and Lucid Dreaming as Socially Constructed Meditative Absorption. Paper to be presented at the biannual meeting entitled "Toward a Science of Consciousness" sponsored by the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Nightmares & Threat Simulation
Gackenbach, J.I. & Kuruvilla, B. (2008). The relationship between video game play and threat simulation dreams. Dreaming, 18(4), 236-256.

Threat Simulation Theory
dreaming is an adaptive process with an evolutionary foundation (Revonsuo, 2000).
dreaming allows us to simulate threatening situations in the safety of a virtual environment of dreams.
continued practice would allow an individual to better prepare for these possibly dangerous instances, were they to arise in the waking world

Dreams Collected
Online Questionnaires
night before dreams only,
average hours since dream to recollection being under one hour
minimum word count of 40 words
98 participants/dreams
35 males
63 females

Principle Component Factor Analysis of Media, Threat Simulation Intensity, and Dream Self Evaluation Variables
Gaming
Day BeforeMedia Use
Threat Simulation
Self Report on Dream

Nightmares versus Bad Dreams
Le, H. & Gackenbach, J. (2009). Nightmares of Video Game Players: What do They Look Like? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Chicago, ILL.

Method
Participants
231 low- and 222 high end gamers
Instruments
Media usage questionnaire
Impactful dreams questionnaire (Lucid, Nightmares, Mystical, and Bad dreams)
Content Analysis
Hall and Van de Castle’s method for content analysis (HVDC)

HVDC Aggression Sum Score
Nightmares
Bad Dreams
Low Game Group
High Game Group

HVDC Misfortune Sum Score
Bad Dreams
Nightmares
Low Game Group
High Game Group

Judge Rated Emotionality (HVDC)
Consistent findings with previous research
Nightmares had more negative emotions than bad dreams
No interaction with gaming group

Self-Rated Emotionality Scale of Dream
No gamer group difference or dream type difference
Self rated emotions: anger, awe, sexual arousal, anxiety, fear, guilt, frustration, sadness, hatred, happiness, jealousy, and embarrassment
Negative emotions (anxiety, frustration, and fear) were found to be higher in bad dreams for high-end gamers
While positive emotions (sexual arousal and happiness) were found to be greater in nightmares for high end gamers!!!

Self Reported Emotions: Sample Subscales
Nightmares
Bad Dreams
Bad Dreams
Nightmares
Low Game Group
High Game Group
Low Game Group
High Game Group
Anxiety
Happiness

Hall & Van de Castle Content Analysis of Lucid vsNonlucid Dreams of Gamers from 4 Previous Studies
Gackenbach, J.I. & Hunt, H. (2010, April). Video Game Play and Lucid Dreaming as Socially Constructed Meditative Absorption. Paper to be presented at the biannual meeting entitled "Toward a Science of Consciousness" sponsored by the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Lucidity Dream Type Differences among Gamers

Participant - Observer Gamer Opinion of how video games enter into dreams
Lucidity, bizarreness, yes.
Aggression, sometimes.
nightmares very rare
3rd person
“I’ve just noticed that sometimes I’m just there as a hovering spirit watching things go on and I don’t really have a role … I don’t even pop up in my dreams, it’s just like I’m watching a movie … I feel emotion definitely regardless of whether or not I’m the person involved” – s16

Conclusions & Implications
Lucidity/control
Do these preliminary results imply that lucid/control dreaming will become widespread given the saturation of media?
Bizarreness
Are gamers semantic networks more diverse?
Aggression/Threat Simulation
Does gaming protect the person against nightmares?

For more information....
Email for slides and/or papers:
gackenbachj@macewan.ca
Some of presentation summarized in this book chapter
Gackenbach, J.I., Kuruvilla, B., Dopko, R. & Le, H. (2010). Chapter 5: Dreams and video game play. In F. Columbus (Ed.), Computer Games: Learning Objectives, Cognitive Performance and Effects on Development, Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

Dreams and video game play games for health conference 2010

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Dreams and video game play games for health conference 2010 Presentation Transcript