Thread: Question About Hypnogogic Imagery

Originally Posted by Tpiskor615

When I try to wild I never seem to get the HI to start. I enter sleep paralysis and my whole body starts to feel like it is vibrating but no HI. Any ideas on what might cause this?

nope

This vibrating is actually a hypnagogic hallucination. So you may not be getting visual hypnagogoic sensations, but you are getting the tactile ones. Not everyone gets HI, either. I usually experience it when I'm pretty tired, but not very frequently.

Ok, Thank you.

Originally Posted by Shift

This vibrating is actually a hypnagogic hallucination. So you may not be getting visual hypnagogoic sensations, but you are getting the tactile ones. Not everyone gets HI, either. I usually experience it when I'm pretty tired, but not very frequently.

hey - first post from me..

are these vibrations classed as hypnagogoic hallucinations? I always considered them to be a sensitization of actual bodily stuff going on.. stuff our brains usually block - visceral vibrations, tapping into the nervous system?

Originally Posted by Dormiens Vigila

hey - first post from me..

are these vibrations classed as hypnagogoic hallucinations? I always considered them to be a sensitization of actual bodily stuff going on.. stuff our brains usually block - visceral vibrations, tapping into the nervous system?

Yup, from everything that I have read (quite a bit now ) they are pure hallucinations, though perhaps there is some sort of greater experience of those visceral vibrations. I doubt it though, it seems more to be the opposite- the internal production of all perception that you experience. I can't imagine my body actually shaking as violently as it has felt, either. So yea generally speaking, it's all in your head
Don't hold me to it though. If you manage to find some research saying the opposite, I would absolutely love to read it. But I have never come across it. From what I've gathered, they are all believed to be pure hallucinations.

Originally Posted by Shift

Yup, from everything that I have read (quite a bit now ) they are pure hallucinations, though perhaps there is some sort of greater experience of those visceral vibrations. I doubt it though, it seems more to be the opposite- the internal production of all perception that you experience. I can't imagine my body actually shaking as violently as it has felt, either. So yea generally speaking, it's all in your head
Don't hold me to it though. If you manage to find some research saying the opposite, I would absolutely love to read it. But I have never come across it. From what I've gathered, they are all believed to be pure hallucinations.

I've not come across the any research to say the vibrations are or aren't hallucinations..
My hunch is the vibrations are an acute over-sensitivity to electrical activity in the body. What if you were to become conscious and hypersensitive to all that neuromodulatory firing that accompanies SP.. And what about the noises? could random firing account for this also?

Originally Posted by Dormiens Vigila

I've not come across the any research to say the vibrations are or aren't hallucinations..
My hunch is the vibrations are an acute over-sensitivity to electrical activity in the body. What if you were to become conscious and hypersensitive to all that neuromodulatory firing that accompanies SP.. And what about the noises? could random firing account for this also?

It certainly is possible. I'd hope that 'they' wouldn't be so quick to call them hallucinations if you were actually experiencing a stimuli? But then again, maybe they would be? *shrug* What would account for the hyper sensitivity? Do you have any hypotheses?

no real hypotheses from me.. I'm just venturing guesses!! What may account for the hypersensitivity? Don't know, we'd have to ask a scientist..

I'm thinking that synesthesia has a lot to do with the vibrations being accompanied by buzzing and whooshing sounds..

Originally Posted by Dormiens Vigila

no real hypotheses from me.. I'm just venturing guesses!! What may account for the hypersensitivity? Don't know, we'd have to ask a scientist..

I'm thinking that synesthesia has a lot to do with the vibrations being accompanied by buzzing and whooshing sounds..

Like actual synesthesia? I doubt that, the random development of physiological synesthesia because you entered SP?

The only thing I can think of to account for the hypersensitivity is possibly the shutdown of other perceptual systems, leaving you with only tactile perception. And in the absence of other competing stimuli the threshold is low enough that you can perceive them. But still... eh, I don't now. I'm too skeptical. Especially because SP can occur without any perception besides paralysis.

Originally Posted by Shift

Like actual synesthesia? I doubt that, the random development of physiological synesthesia because you entered SP?

The only thing I can think of to account for the hypersensitivity is possibly the shutdown of other perceptual systems, leaving you with only tactile perception. And in the absence of other competing stimuli the threshold is low enough that you can perceive them. But still... eh, I don't now. I'm too skeptical. Especially because SP can occur without any perception besides paralysis.

yep 'shutdown of other perceptual systems' - or decreased activity in parts of the brain (mostly motor sensory areas) - giving rise to senses other wise reduced.
you say you get it sometimes when your tired - i do.. but for me it feels like waves or surges of electricity that flow through my head.. like nerves firing together..