Thread: A question about other peoples lucid dreaming .

Um all of the dreams I have recalled have been in first perosn and have loked seemingly not different than waking life, otherwise just looking around in your drea would trigger lucidity.

Okay , but what im specifically interested in is , do you percieve depth in your dream . Like if you close one eye , that is without depth , then , with both eyes open , you can focus on things with 2 different perspectives and percieve depth . Or is it simply like looking at a flat image .

I suppose since you say its exactly like waking image , then you must percieve the depth in your dream . Think about it for a while , as alot of people are confused when it comes to the subject of stereoscopic imagery . But there is of course a massive difference . Without depth you cant catch a ball when i throw it to you , or you couldnt tell how far away that car is and if you have enough time to cross the road . Depth is a very important perception when it comes to vision .

Im not sure Ill try to remeber it next time i get lucid, but i prbably won't remember to.

Cool , thanks . Its not real improtant so dont try too much to remember about it , im just curoius thats all .

Originally posted by Darkmatic
Well i am yet to have a lucid dream , but i am curious about something .

When you lucid dream from the 1st person perspective , does your dream have depth , like , do you see like in waking life with 2 slightly different perspectives from each eye , so things close to you have more of a '3D' effect than things further away . I hope you know what im talking about . I have heard of people having dreams where they claim to view their dream in this state , though i dont know if they were talking about lucid dreams . *

If people do dream in such a way , i think its a testament to the human brain , being able to generat two slightly different virtual perspectives to achieve a virtual three dimensional world in your head . *

Maybe some people could tell me if they noticed this in their dreams . And to what degree of accuracy , like if things acually look far away or real close , or if theyre just like on a TV screen . *

Anyway , in all my dreams i have which are a bit hazy and dark , i have never noticed this '3D' effect . Maybe it only works for some people .

First, you need to know a little bit about how depth perception in the eye works while in waking life:

The eye uses three methods to determine distance:

* ** The size a known object has on your retina - If you have knowledge of the size of an object from previous experience, then your brain can gauge the distance based on the size of the object on the retina.

* ** Moving parallax - When you move your head from side to side, objects that are close to you move rapidly across your retina. However, objects that are far away move very little. In this way, your brain can tell roughly how far something is from you.

* ** Stereo vision - Each eye receives a different image of an object on its retina because each eye is about 2 inches apart. This is especially true when an object is close to your eyes. This is less useful when objects are far away because the images on the retina become more identical the farther they are from your eyes. *
http://science.howstuffworks.com/eye10.htm[/b]

All this information is sent to the brain and your brain then determines the depth. However, when you're dreaming, your eyes aren't being used to see. Everything you see is created by your imagination. So instead of using your eyes to compute depth, your brain is now determining it independently--everything you see, whether you have one dream eye open, two, or even three, will have depth.

Hope this cleared things up for you,

D

Thanks for that link , though i am aware already of how depth is achieved .

So you say you personally experience depth in your lucid dreams then ? How did you come to this conclusion . I take it was from experience .

At any rate , for this to happen , your brain still needs to generate 2 slightly different perspectives . That was what i was amazed at , if the brain can do this , then it basically has this massive 3D world stored in your brain with every single point or co-ordinate in space pinpointed exactly , and , you can also generate your own objects , so the brain can create entire different landscapes with these exact co-ordinates in the blink of an eye .

Originally posted by Darkmatic
Thanks for that link , though i am aware already of how depth is achieved .

So you say you personally experience depth in your lucid dreams then ? How did you come to this conclusion . I take it was from experience .

At any rate , for this to happen , your brain still needs to generate 2 slightly different perspectives . That was what i was amazed at , if the brain can do this , then it basically has this massive 3D world stored in your brain with every single point or co-ordinate in space pinpointed exactly , and , you can also generate your own objects , so the brain can create entire different landscapes with these exact co-ordinates in the blink of an eye .

The brain doesn't generate the two different perspectives--your eyes do. Your eyes feed the information to your brain which then determines depth information based on the two perspectives. In a dream, your eyes aren't being used for this purpose so your brain just makes up depth on its own, which may be slightly inaccurate. You're not really in a body, and you're not really looking through eyes. You may be imagining that you are in your body because this is how you've been your whole life, but your "dream eyes" aren't serving any purpose. Your dream perspective just happens to be positioned at your "dream head" above your "dream nose," which is where it is in waking life.

In your next lucid dream, try shifting your perspective to your hand (move your dream eyes to your hand) and see how that new perspective feels. This might be quite difficult to achieve if you're inexperienced with dream control, but it's worth a shot. If it works, try looking back at your face! What you see should be quite interesting.

Have fun,

D

Originally posted by dearly


The brain doesn't generate the two different perspectives--your eyes do. Your eyes feed the information to your brain which then determines depth information based on the two perspectives. In a dream, your eyes aren't being used for this purpose so your brain just makes up depth on its own, which may be slightly inaccurate. You're not really in a body, and you're not really looking through eyes. You may be imagining that you are in your body because this is how you've been your whole life, but your \"dream eyes\" aren't serving any purpose. Your dream perspective just happens to be positioned at your \"dream head\" above your \"dream nose,\" which is where it is in waking life.

In your next lucid dream, try shifting your perspective to your hand (move your dream eyes to your hand) and see how that new perspective feels. This might be quite difficult to achieve if you're inexperienced with dream control, but it's worth a shot. If it works, try looking back at your face! What you see should be quite interesting.

Have fun,

D

Thanks , i am aware that your eyes capture the two different perspectives during waking life . BUT , i was saying how when dreaming , YOUR BRAIN must generate these two slightly different perspectives for you to see stereo , to see DEPTH . There is no other way to see depth than to have 2 different perspectives . Even if the brain makes up depth of its own accord , it must have a virtual image of the entire surroundings stored inside the brain for it to give you this image in a dream .

Anyway , im repeating myself now , so ill just say that my interest in this topic is to seek knowlege about the capabilities of the human brain .

I wish i could have a LD to experience this , but im new to it and am far from having a LD , though if i was to have one tonight i would be overjoyed .

Thinking about it I would have to say that it really depends on what you are dreaming about. In a dream you don't actually see anything, it's merely conceptual thought, which is interpreted as the different sensory information types. Thus, as I see it, visual imagery is emulated. So, considering that the most common form of visual imagery to anyone is with depth, in 3D, then I would say the same is in dreams but only unless you wish it otherwise.

P.S. Being new to the subject of lucidity is often the best way to achieve the "first" lucid dream; at least it seems to be simply because upon learning about lucidity one becomes curious and intrigued by it, thus, the thought becomes a true concern and can result in a lucid dream.