Thread: Delusions when sleeping

Originally Posted by Oneiro

Great article Thor.. thanks for that.

Another part I found interesting:

"Fifth, longitudinal and cross-sectional studies in which young children ages 3-15 were awakened in the sleep laboratory suggest that dreaming is a gradual cognitive achievement based on the development of a variety of cognitive skills, especially the ability to create mental imagery. This is seen first in the unanticipated finding that median recall from REM awakenings of pre-school children was only 15%, but it is also shown by the static, undeveloped, and unemotional nature of the infrequent content that the pre-schoolers do report, and by the relatively simple nature--and continuing infrequency-- of the dreaming that occurs from ages 6 to 9. If we can trust laboratory studies, and I think we can, dreaming is not adult-like until ages 9-10 and not comparable to adult dreams in frequency, length, content, or emotions until ages 11-13" (Foulkes, 1982; Foulkes, 1999; Strauch, 2005).

.. which kind of makes me wonder about all the purported cases of 5 year old LDers, anecdotal evidence of which is all over this website. How can one then take seriously their claims if indeed their dreams are "not comparable to adult dreams in frequency, length, content, or emotions until ages 11-13" .

Makes me wonder.

All the best to you.

I have had lucid dreams pretty much all my life, I remember lucid dreams from when I was 3-4. My dreams were different from now; I remember them as short, incoherent, and often filled with feelings of fear, and sometimes anger. The feelings were "simple", and so was the dream. I think my dreams developed around the start of my teens, or a little earlier, now they are usually coherent and with plots, and they are usually pretty long. My emotions are more mixed and changing, at least in my non lucid dreams. Comparing my dreams at childhood and now would be like comparing 'Mary had a little lamb' to Beethoven.

Originally Posted by Line

Comparing my dreams at childhood and now would be like comparing 'Mary had a little lamb' to Beethoven.

Right. So your personal experiences pretty much confirm what the article says, and since the article doesn't say anything about lucidity there's no contradiction there.

Originally Posted by Thor

Right. So your personal experiences pretty much confirm what the article says, and since the article doesn't say anything about lucidity there's no contradiction there.

Still, I had recurring themes when I was around 4-6 that I remember well. Cars would often be involved, and I dreamt that my parents left me in there, saying that they would be right back, but they never came back. I also had recurring dreams of my kindergarten burning, and me being trapped in there. They were lucid.

Originally Posted by Line

Still, I had recurring themes when I was around 4-6 that I remember well. Cars would often be involved, and I dreamt that my parents left me in there, saying that they would be right back, but they never came back. I also had recurring dreams of my kindergarten burning, and me being trapped in there. They were lucid.

Yes, but the study doesn't say that the kids didn't have recurring dreams. It only says they had simple and infrequent dreams.

I was thinking the same as Line in the way that infrequent content meant always changing. Meh.... I'm kinda confused now

Originally Posted by tommo

I was thinking the same as Line in the way that infrequent content meant always changing. Meh.... I'm kinda confused now

Well, Merriam-Webster says:

infrequent
1 : seldom happening or occurring : rare
2 : placed or occurring at wide intervals in space or time

So I don't quite see how this could be taken to mean non-recurring.