Do People Really Dream in Black and White?


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Can_I_just_be_Jo is offline Can_I_just_be_Jo Post #1  February 10,2010, 8:19am

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This may be a strange question. Heck most of my questions are strange but god forbid that stop me from asking. I have never had a dream in black and white. I can't even imagine why the brain would do such a thing. Life is in color why would you dream in black and white.

So folks help me out here. Do you really dream in black and white? If you do is it like a cartoon like pure black and white or is there shading. If there is shading is it like a high quality black and white where it approaches a feel of color.

I am starting to wonder if the people I ask in real life are lying to me because I tend to present this question with an air of disbelief. I get a lot of err, yeah, I dream in color.

So what is it? I will figure this world out eventually.
 
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chawks64 is offline chawks64 Post #2  February 10,2010, 5:07pm
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I honestly can't remember, but if I had to guess, I'd say color, but muted color. I'm trying to remember a dream I had a while back, and whether I saw my jacket was brown or just knew it was. I think I saw it was. Hmmm.....
 
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Can_I_just_be_Jo is offline Can_I_just_be_Jo Post #3  February 10,2010, 5:18pm

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Thanks for trying I have been in a mood lately. Apparently I am having trouble getting a job because I am too smart. Like no one knows what to do with me. Always fun. I am considering getting my masters in IT after I graduate with my MACC, can't have enough diplomas. At least in IT being abnormal seems normal.
 
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chawks64 is offline chawks64 Post #4  February 10,2010, 5:54pm
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I could see you fitting in with the IT guys. They're usually a little different and have a sideways take on things, which is something I can relate to, and I think you're the same.

I know accountants have a rep for being boring, but the accounting department I was in was just hilarious!

I went to one of our "techie" departments and talked to the guys about what it took to work there. They were happy I was asking and really helped. Right now, all of the guys are great to me, but I hate saying something out of the blue and having them look at me like "What the...???" I just relate to nerds better. Added bonus: there was a total hottie there! No wedding ring (I remembered to look for once!), but that doesn't always mean anything.

I do wonder sometimes if one reason I'm having trouble getting promoted is because I can reason well AND I say what I think, which is a scary combination if you're management. Maybe they think I'm more easily controlled at this level in the company. I don't know. It just would be really nice to be appreciated as the first choice when something good comes up and not just The Fixer when the one they promote over me leaves behind a big mess.
 
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serenity737 is offline serenity737 Post #5  February 10,2010, 7:05pm
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Here is a website with lots of information based on primariily on research about dreams and dreaming.

The International Association for the Study of Dreams

Mike
 
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meri75 is offline meri75 Post #6  February 10,2010, 7:07pm
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I generally dream in colour. I have had a few dreams where I dreamt in black and white. The black and white dreams all have one thing in common: I was in danger. Last time, I was being chased by a shark, which for some reason known only to my brain, was taking place in the main street, (it was all water) instead of in the ocean.

Mostly, the colours are very, very vivid. I dream in a mixture of Aussie, American and British accents. Sometimes, I have 'to be continued ...' dreams, as in my brain actually flashes at me 'TO BE CONTINUED ...' and then the next night or a couple of nights later, I pick up where I left off.

I wish my real life were half as interesting as my dream life at times!
 
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Can_I_just_be_Jo is offline Can_I_just_be_Jo Post #7  February 11,2010, 4:37am

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Mike, that site has a lot of information. Thanks.
meri75 wrote :
I generally dream in colour. I have had a few dreams where I dreamt in black and white. The black and white dreams all have one thing in common: I was in danger. Last time, I was being chased by a shark, which for some reason known only to my brain, was taking place in the main street, (it was all water) instead of in the ocean.

Mostly, the colours are very, very vivid. I dream in a mixture of Aussie, American and British accents. Sometimes, I have 'to be continued ...' dreams, as in my brain actually flashes at me 'TO BE CONTINUED ...' and then the next night or a couple of nights later, I pick up where I left off.

I wish my real life were half as interesting as my dream life at times!
Shame you can't spell color. The site that Mike linked to says everyone dreams in color but not everyone remembers it in color. Not sure what that means.
 
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serenity737 is offline serenity737 Post #8  February 11,2010, 2:54pm
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Let's see if I can explain some of this and if you want me to go into the process of dreaming at a more detailed level I would be happy to do so especially since this was the focus of my physio class this week.

First, a significant number of dreams occur through out different phases of sleep - not just during REM - so the notion dreams are caused by REM has been largely debunked. It is clear as our sleep deepens the thalamus, our sensory gateway, shuts off in response to signals from "sleep generators" located in the brain stem. In turn, cutting off sensory systems at a central level results in deactivation of the frontal - executive systems of the brain by which we engage in abstract thought and orient ourselves towards cognition associated with the external world. What remains very active in sleep in the ventral tegmental dopiminergic system (VTA) often characterized as the "seeking system" which involved our basic drive and motivation to go out into the world to get our needs met. All of the emotional drive systems also remain "on-line" as well as the posterior areas involved with visual-spatial processing - basically allowing us to engage in imagistic thinking in the absence of perceptual stimuli. Also when we dream there is an area in the brain stem which shuts off our motor system at the level of the spinal cord so we don't act on what occurs in dream states.

Essentially, this evidence indicates in dreams we are in a highly emotional motivated state with little or no capacity for logical thought or abiliity to modulate our experiences. We basically experience hallucinatory imagry infused with emotions which has no rhyme or reason - jumping from one image to the next - a jumble of seeming disconnected nonsensical experiences. This is what dreaming consists of. What occurs after we wake up - what Freud termed secondary revision, is when we feel the need to construct a narrative or make sense of our dreams. Real dreams (and this is determined when researchers wake people up in the middle of a dream) don't really make any sense at the time when we experience them.

In general, looks like the research suggests when people recall their dreams in color they tend to be more in touch with their on-going emotiional states. At an individual level there are of course exceptions to this. For example, when a person dreams in black and their dream content involves potential danger or threat this may suggest a sense of morbidity, despair, hopelessness about their potential situation. Again, an individual analysis of a dream within the context of who a person is, their history, current life circumstances, etc would be necessary before knowing what a particular dream might mean for them.

Best,

Mike

PS - As long as I can remember I have dreamed in color.
 
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chawks64 is offline chawks64 Post #9  February 11,2010, 3:11pm
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serenity737 wrote :
Essentially, this evidence indicates in dreams we are in a highly emotional motivated state with little or no capacity for logical thought or abiliity to modulate our experiences. We basically experience hallucinatory imagry infused with emotions which has no rhyme or reason - jumping from one image to the next - a jumble of seeming disconnected nonsensical experiences.
This part is very interesting. My son used to sleepwalk quite often, at least once a month or so when he was younger, even from his earliest days. When he did, I could never understand what his thought process was, even assuming he was dreaming and thought it was real. There just wasn't ever any logic or continuity to it, just random thoughts and an overblown emotional state.

It's funny that, back when he was a kid, he would find his way to my room, looking for comfort when he was sleepwalking. Now he has his own place and calls me on the phone. Same inflated emotions, same random thoughts, just on speed dial now.
 
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serenity737 is offline serenity737 Post #10  February 11,2010, 6:28pm
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Yep ... the interesting thing is sleepwalking is different and doesn't occur when someone is dreaming. When people sleepwalk although they may be confused, disoriented, not really aware of the environment and scattered there is a tendency for someone to engage in stereotypic behavior they find comfort in ... like your son finding his way to your bedroom. I had a friend who lived at my frat house in college who sleptwalked and he would get out of bed, wander around mumbling to himself then almost always find a couch to go back to sleep on. When people would wake him up in the middle of one of these episodes (not something you ought to do) he would be confused, agitated - was not dreaming though.

Best,

Mike
 
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