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Nighttime Dreams and Video Game Play: How Gaming May Affect Dreaming
- 1. Nighttime Dreams and Video Game Play Jayne Gackenbach MacEwan University Gackenbach, J.I. (2017, Jan.). Nighttime dreams and video game play. Invited lecture at Dark Matters at Telus Science Museum, Edmonton, AB.
- 2. 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
- 3. Dreams are Brains at Work While “Off-line” • Like a computer which is not in use thus no input (i.e., keyboard, scan, etc) yet CPU still at work • During sleep the brain is off line, minimal sensory input, but lots of processing of information ongoing
- 4. 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 as dreams still do their ‘job’ • Unobtrusive way to examine psychological processes
- 5. • 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, Why study gamers dreams? Gamers dreams may show fundamental structural differences in their dreams
- 6. Dream Dimensions: Gamers show More Lucid and Control Dreams More Bizarreness and Creativity Less Nightmarish Content
- 7. VR Dream Types* 182 last night dreams collected after a video game played the day before 1. No game in dream (63%) 2. Game & Dream (37%) a. In the dream the dream ego is in the game world – the dream is the game (63% ) b. In the dream playing a video game is mentioned c. In the dream games are mentioned *Oct. 2011 issue of International Dream Research Journal
- 8. Example
- 9. Different Realities in Dreams Gamer reported an interesting detachment from the dream events: As the car was burning I opened the door and leaned out to leave but made the decision to stay inside instead because I was curious to see what I would look like burning alive. While I felt the heat, smelt the smoke, I didn't feel any pain. I felt detached from the feelings, but recognized that they were my own. (Subject #28) He also reported not a nightmare, not scared, but it was violent NOT lucid and no control (coders wondered?) This is noteworthy because it echoes the descriptions of witnessing dreams that previous research has found among meditators with the same observing but uninvolved emotional reaction (Mason et al., 1995; Gackenbach & Bosveld, 1989).
- 10. Different Realities in Dreams Emotions Sort of. I knew what the person I saw as myself felt, but didn't share those feelings. Throughout the emotions of disgust, loneliness, or excitement were all ones I thought best fit the "character" of myself based on the situation. Thinking about actions I was constantly thinking about my every move, making sure that whatever I did was in my best interest. If anything was off-putting (the carnival owner, the desert) I simply moved on. Thinking about surroundings I was constantly analyzing my surroundings... At the city where I drove my car, I noticed the simplicity of the environment, which seemed to be constructed out of simple polygons. Obviously this was a video game environment (the dream was thought to be a video game by the dreamer), much like Grand Theft Auto.
- 11. 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 early grade school Gamer Generally Defined in Research Program
- 12. In Class Data Collection 2.3 2.35 2.4 2.45 2.5 2.55 2.6 2.65 2.7 2.75 Low Video Game Play Medium Video Game Play High Video Game Play LucidDreamingFrequency Lucid Dreaming 2= rarely 3= sometimes
- 13. 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 attention & absorption reported by players and researchers Lucid/control dreams Dream worlds biologically 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 attention/absorption
- 14. 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
- 15. Control Dreaming In Class Data Collection 2.05 2.1 2.15 2.2 2.25 2.3 2.35 2.4 2.45 2.5 Low Video Game Play Medium Video Game Play High Video Game Play ControlDreaming 2= rarely 3= sometimes
- 16. Dreams of Gamers in the Military 377 individuals entered the survey First set of questions were screening: (Yes) Play video games In the military (1/3 lost) 18 years or older High School education Reply No to these questions (in last 6 months): been diagnosed with a mental disorder tried to commit suicide perform risky behaviors without particular concern for your mortality addicted to alcohol or drugs
- 17. Soldiers Comment About Games Played while Deployed comment on an article he had read about our research: I would see many Soldiers, in combat, with PSPs or anything we could hook up to 220v electricity. When Soldiers weren't on patrol, we often had violent war games on our systems. It was weird. Like we didn't get enough violence.
- 18. Combat Centric Titles Preferred Indeed in a media story about gaming on the frontlines, “combat centric titles” might be associated with wanting to be in the military “The average military member will never actually live out that exciting, epic firefight, the moment of a decisive battle, the heat of combat, or the thrill of knowing you just outwitted your mortal enemy and crushed them beneath your strategic might and skill, so gaming definitely offers a way of living out that fantasy. Call it a strange form of escapism?” (Ashcraft, 2011).
- 19. Military Deployment/Combat There were no gamer group differences in Were you, or are you, deployed while serving in the military? Any combat experience Witnessed others being wounded or killed Discharged a weapon Felt in great danger of being wounded Was wounded Felt in great danger of being killed
- 20. Review and Theoretical Conceptualization of the Nightmare Literature Levin and Nielsen (2007; 2009) point out in their model that nightmares occur due to: affect load, that is situational events like interpersonal conflict, trauma, etc. (both long term and recent) affect distress, dispositional traits which may be genetic or due to life history like attachments issues or unresolved trauma interact to result in the experience of a nightmare.
- 21. To determine if gaming effects nightmares have to control for affect load and distress Covariates for those that reported dreams Affect Distress: Emotional Reactivity and Numbing Scale (ERNS) (Gamer group differences) 5 subscale scores (positive, sad*, general, anger*, fear*) * low gamers were higher on these scales than high gamers Affect Load (no Gamer group differences) Sum of Traumas from lifetime (averaged 2 to 3 out of 9) Sum of combat experiences (averaged 2 yes’s out of the 6) Deployment (1 ½ deployments across life span)
- 22. Dream Content Analysis Threat Simulation (Revonsuo & Valli, 2000) War Content (Wilmer, 1996)
- 23. Nature of Threat Military Dream Recent Dream High Low Same interaction for Severity of Threat (1=none, 2=trivial, 3=social/psychological, 4=life threatening) No difference in number of threats
- 24. high threat, military dream, low gamer I couldn't find my rifle and something was chasing me. I searched the entire forest until I did find my weapon. As i turned around to shoot what was hunting me - the trigger felt like it was a 1,000 lbs trigger pull. The rounds I was shooting were delayed and where not hitting where I was aiming. (Subject #21)
- 25. high threat, military dream, high gamer i was told by my old Sargent to load up on the humvv in my gunners spot. he said we were going to roll out to fight some were in Baghdad. we drove down to the combat area where there was a brutal fight me and quite a few men against the insergants. i remember shooting and seeing men fall on both sides. i saw the faces of the dead eyes wide and staring at the sky soulless faces of friends. i walked dazed back to the humvv and woke up subject #115
- 26. In reaction to threat, does self participate? No yes Military Dream Recent Dream High Low
- 27. Newest Considerations • Gender and nightmare protection • Masculine women who like combat centric games have it • Culture, dreams and gaming • Taiwan vs Canada; no difference in lucidity frequency in gamers but more lucidity in Taiwan for nongamers • Mixed Realities (Augmented reality and VR) • Pokemon Go: More likely to have mixed realities in dreams • VR: Oculus Rift use resulted in more lucidity claims
- 28. Conclusions & Implications Increased Lucid/control dreams Is this indicative of at least improved metacognition or perhaps development of consciousness? Increased Bizarreness/creativity Are gamers capable of improved “novel adaptive responses” as per the Global Workspace theory? Aggression/Threat Simulation Does gaming have a protective function regarding nightmares?
- 29. More about Video Games and Dreams
Editor's Notes
- Gackenbach, J.I., Kuruvilla, B., Dopko, R. & Le, H. (2010). Chapter 5: Dreams and video game play. In Soria, A. & Maldonado, J. (Eds.), Computer games: Learning objectives, cognitive performance and effects on development, Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, p. 127-136. Gackenbach, J.I. (in press). Video game play and dreams. In Barrett, D. & McNamara, P. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreams. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
- As I just mentioned we are beginning to consider that point of view (or POV) may be an important component in trying to understand the dreams of gamers. This is a particularly dramatic example which asks the question “Is this detachment or practice from gaming?” PICTURE 1: This is a dream from a Male hard core gamer who had played from 4 to 7 hours the day before this dream and had watched several violent cartoons The games he played were first person shooters including Half-Life 2 and Halo 3. What is interesting about the first person POV games is that they do NOT always allow a third person perspective. BUT the real self is actually in third person while playing a first person shooter and thus hours of being in that perspective may have helped to mediate this dream. Here is his DREAM: I was in a desert. I looked bad, dusty. I saw my tiny silhouette against a large sun, meaning I was watching myself, in 3rd person. While I looked bad I didn't feel bad. I was indifferent to the "my" feelings. I came upon a carnival, but it gets sketchy at that point. Eventually I'm driving a car, again not at a real POV (point of view), but following behind the car. It didn't matter to me that I was crashing into other cars or walls. My car caught fire, I saw it melt from within. I died not trying to escape. (Subject #27)
- This gamer reported an interesting detachment from the dream events: As the car was burning I opened the door and leaned out to leave but made the decision to stay inside instead because I was curious to see what I would look like burning alive. While I felt the heat, smelt the smoke, I didn't feel any pain. I felt detached from the feelings, but recognized that they were my own. He also reported that it was not a nightmare, he was not scared, but the dream was violent Finally he reported that the dream was NOT lucid and that he had no control over it but I wonder? This is noteworthy because it echoes the descriptions of witnessing dreams that previous research has found among meditators with the same observing but uninvolved emotional reaction.
- When asked “did you feel any emotions during the experiences?” he commented: Sort of. I knew what the person I saw as myself felt, but didn't share those feelings. Throughout the emotions of disgust, loneliness, or excitement were all ones I thought best fit the "character" of myself based on the situation. Then he was asked “Did you think about what you were doing?” and he wrote: I was constantly thinking about my every move, making sure that whatever I did was in my best interest. If anything was off-putting (the carnival owner, the desert) I simply moved on. Then he replied to this question “Did you think about what was happening around you?” by saying: I was constantly analyzing my surroundings... At the city where I drove my car, I noticed the simplicity of the environment, which seemed to be constructed out of simple polygons. Obviously that was a video game environment, much like Grand Theft Auto.
- Type of Game Preferred only considered in latest studies, seemed to make no difference 5 years ago – recent study published in Mindfulness found an association between 1st person shooter game preference and mindfulness
- In terms of Video game Play video games are technologically constructed alternative realities In terms of Lucid/control dreams Dream worlds are biologically constructed alternative realities Video gaming has been associated with improved spatial skills Lucid dreamers show better spatial skills Low motion sickness needed to play a lot Lucid dreamers have better vestibular systems thus they are not as susceptible to motion sickness High attention and absorption is reported by players and researchers Meditation is highly associated with lucidity and can be viewed as training in developing one pointed attention/absorption
- So the question becomes, is the association between lucid dreaming and video game play self selected? Well yes and no. To be a serious player you need to not suffer motion sickness Almost all children through to young adults play some form these days and indeed I’ve spoken to gamers who are susceptible to motion sickness and they say they prefer games that do not bring it on. For serious game play spatial skills are an advantage Spatial skills improve with play if not to the extent of those with a gaming history Most games of serious players cater to boys Girl games are being developed and is a large growing market and the largest gaming market now is the casual gaming market which is dominated by middle aged women! Those who are able to get absorbed should do better Attention/absorption improve with play but again not to the extent of those with a long history of play
- Revonsuo, A., & Valli, K. (2000). Dreaming and Consciousness: Testing the threat stimulation theory of the function of dreaming. Psyche, 6, 1-25. Wilmer, Harry A (1996). The healing nightmare: War dreams of Vietnam veterans. Barrett, Deirdre (Ed), Trauma and dreams. (pp. 85-99). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 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.
- Nature of Threat (1= no harm, 2= nonagg harm, 3= agg harm)