Lucid Dreaming and Consciousness - Research Paper Example

Lucid Dreaming and Consciousness The field of psychology has experienced numerous arguments where it is difficult to identify a fact from implied information regarding particular topics. A major controversial topic is that of dreaming and more importantly lucid dreaming. People have sought to claim that lucid dreaming does not exist while others have strong evidence on the existence of this form of dreaming. Before dwelling deeper on the topic, identifying the definition of these terms is important for better understanding of the topic. Lucid dreaming is the state, in which an individual is deep asleep, experiences a dream and recognizes that he/she is dreaming. Non-lucid dreaming is the state in which an individual sleeps dreams but does not recognize that he/she is dreaming. Going through the various issues, and characteristics relating to this subject assists in improved understanding of this section of psychology. Changes occurring in the human body during this state of dreaming are because of brain processes that get information from the sensory modalities. Upon the information getting to the brain, it is broken down into different pieces and consequently directed to various physical and sensual body parts that are flexible. It is vital to understand that these processes only take place in the case of lucid dreams (Rolim, 2013). However, if the dream is non-lucid then the body does not move or rather react as much. Lucid dreaming bears individual variation such that some people have greater effects as compared to the reaction portrayed by others while experiencing a similar dream. One of the traits portrayed by people going through lucid dreams is the high rate of arousal. Dreams are created through an unconscious state of mind. Some of the reactions that a person might portray may not have the full intent regardless of the fact that the person experiencing them is fully aware that he/she is dreaming (Simone, 2015). The lucid state may get so deep that the individual might lack the ability to control some of the bodily reactions despite consciousness having a bearing here. Comprehending the contextual structure of these dreams is critical for it ensures one gains knowledge of the manner through which human beings operate while in that state. One way of understanding this is through reviewing the role of accessible memories across these kinds of dreamers. Lucid dreamers can recall and state some of the basic components of their lives such as the members of the family while still in their dream state. Moreover, they can carry out various actions and make commands since they are in control of the dream in the early phases. However, the person may get deeper in sleep and lose control of the dream. This loss of control is the boundary between lucid and non-lucid dreaming. After an episode of lucid dreaming, it is possible that an individual contributes to the waking memory. A lucid dream is considered a twin transfer of memories and experiences between the two worlds at different times. After an individual experiences lucid dreams repeatedly for a certain amount of time, the body system adjusts. The adjustment is such that it settles on these dreams and can recall them even when in the state of awareness (Tadas, 2014). These dreams form a solid and complex structure. The structure created is stable and independent and is the lucid dream context. This context has two main roles in the life of a person. One of the responsibilities is serving as a general contextual structure that receives information from both experiences and anticipated experiences and forming them to create a lucid dream that is easily recognized by a person. The other responsibility is serving as a stable free context for the waking individual. When a person wakes up from a dream, it is normal to have a lot of confusion because one does not know whether he was recalling a past experience or it was just a dream and nothing of the sort ever happened. For the lucid dreamers that get deep into a dream, they may have dreams that do not appeal to them and the consequent of this is their waking up with paranoia unsure of the future. It is thus the responsibility of the lucid dream context to separate the reality from the dream and consequently calm the individual under duress (Blackmore, 2013). With this latter responsibility, one gets to understand that lucid dreaming is a skill that an individual has the ability to master. Upon having a certain trend in dreaming, the lucid dream context sets this dream into the brain record and the individual has the ability to understand his character even better. Upon repeated behavior of a certain kind, an individual has the ability to control his actions when in a lucid dream. The distinction between lucid and non-lucid dreams is the fact there is a contextual structure present in their bodies that forms because of continued dreaming. Lucid dreams have one structure that bears all the memories and thus the reason why such a dreamer has the ability to recall some vital information witnessed in the dream (Frenzel, 2012). However, non-lucid dreamers do not have a single context but rather have many different ones. Upon these contexts mixing up, which happens in 90% of the times, the result is having the dreamer not aware of the dream clearly and thus why some people do not recall that they dreamt until asked a question such as what they dreamt. The lucid dream context is not owned by a single entity. Neither the normal individual that is fully conscious nor the lucid dreamer who is semi-conscious has full authority or rather control over the lucid dream context. The lucid dream context is used by both these personalities and this is because they are the same person only that one does not have full control of his mind (Brigette, 2009). The fact that both minds use it means that it acts as a bridge between the dreaming state and the normal state where information is passed to the medium. In understanding the lucid dream even further, it is imperative, to understand that there exist three essential components. Each of the components operates on specific levels of psychology. One of the components is the Reference to State. The reference to state is where the dreamer is in a state where he understands that he/she is dreaming. This state that is referred to as self-realization. This is an added boost to the already automatic set by the human brain. The semantic framework in a dreamer is special and involves characteristics such as expectations, beliefs, and declarative knowledge. People that are used to lucid dreaming can accumulate high amounts of knowledge of which they manage to give meaning to their experiences during the dreams. This knowledge is very important for when combined with the state of mind when one is not asleep it reveals a certain pattern that may work to understand the dreams even further. The assumptions and expectations come from the dreamer directly, and thus he/she understands where to place some of his thoughts. The goal-option framework is the third part of this trio. When an individual experiences a lucid dream, it is given that they have particular goals. Some of the actions that the person takes in the dream are intentional with the aim of achieving the premeditated goal (Daniel, 2014). Some of these voluntary actions in the dream include habitual setting of the mind to remember some of the experiences that take the person go through in the dream. Another area to focus on is regarding the experiences that these dreamers have. As stated earlier, lucid dreaming is special depending on the individual. Some people may portray certain characteristics when in such a dream while there are others that may portray some features completely different from this. There are some dream-initiated dreams in this area of study. Above 75% of all lucid dreams are because of a non-lucid dream changing and becoming a lucid dream. Before the transition to a full lucid dream, there are some factors involved and they determine the effectiveness of the transition or the speed at which the transition will take place from a non-lucid dream to a lucid dream (Shaw, 2014). One of the factors is the amount of training that an individual has in shifting from one kind of dream to another. Changing from one dream and moving to another is something that can be learnt and the manner through which takes place is by having someone with the required expertise offering pointers on this. Experience is another factor that determines the success of an individual’s transition from non-lucid to lucid dreaming. It is complicated for people who have never had a dream transition moving from one state of dreaming to the other effectively. For people who are training in mastering this kind of transition they get difficult times and this is because they do not have the required expertise and they end up having nightmares or waking up cutting short the transition. Research shows some other emotions that lead to lucidity. One of the most common emotions that lead to this is embarrassment. Upon an individual facing a factor that leads to embarrassment, urges to escape such a situation rise high. However, since it is difficult adjusting the situation and get rid of the emotion immediately, the human brain leads the person to another state of dreaming (Frenzel, 2012). In this case, the manner through which the brain deals with such a situation is opening the pathway to another form of the dream. The difference is that, in this case, there is some level of consciousness, and this is the same in case of positive emotions such as zeal. Lucid is consciousness, and it is a form of dreaming that an individual can attain through continued training. There are different methods through which a person can use to test the ability to have a lucid dream. One of the tests is the Anomaly Recognition. In this method, the dreamers condition their brains such that they get to recall unusual dreams and their highlighted events where upon recalling this, it can act as a means through which to onset a lucid dream. The anomalies noted along the way become the signs for the dreamer and having a self-prepared dream through this anomaly put the person in charge despite the fact that the consciousness in this state is only half. Programmed behaviors also assist in the understanding and the creation of a lucid dream. In this form of initiating lucid dreaming, the dreamer program such that the task they set to achieve is easily recognizable by the person during the wakening or the dreaming (Daniel, 2014). When a person awakes in the middle of a task, they have a high probability to lose conscience again and fall asleep again. The difference is that they will not fall asleep in a non-lucid state but rather sleep a lucid dream where they can engage in the completion of the set task. In the case of dreaming, the transition goes better in situations where the dreamers are not disturbed by outside noises. There are those wake-initiated lucid dreamers and these people are the most of all the lucid dreamers. These people get into a lucid state of dreaming because after waking up, they do not have the ability to gain as much sleep as they had prior to waking up (Blackmore, 2013). The consequence of this is having these people staying half-asleep and in the case of sleep getting to them, they do not fully indulge as their consciousness is half-open. There is also ambiguity in lucid dream induction. This is rarely but happens at times when a person has had repeated exercise with lucid dreaming where it becomes habitual to a point that the individual engages in lucid dreaming very easily. However, many scientists have argued against using this method of lucid dreams induction as it may pose harmfully to the health of the human brain. References Blackmore, S. (2013). Consciousness: An Introduction. New York: Routledge. Brigette, H. (2009). Lucid dreaming: dreams of clarity. Contemporary Hypnosis, 26, 216-224. Daniel, T. (2014). Dream characters and the dream ego: An exploratory online study in lucid dreams. Contemporary Hypnosis, 31, 543-579. Frenzel, V. (2012). Lucid Dreaming: An Age Dependent Brain Dissociation. Journal of Sleep Research, 21, 634-632. Rolim, M. (2013). Neurobiology and clinical implications of lucid dreaming. Medical Hypothesis, 81, 751-756. Shaw, P. (2014). Spontaneous lucid dreaming frequency and waking insight. Journal of Sleep Research, 24, 152-159. Simone, K. (2015). Metacognitive mechanisms underlying lucid dreaming. Journal of Neuroscience, 35, 1082-1088 Tadas, S. (2014). The Phenomology of lucid dreaming. The American Journal of Psychology, 127, 191- 204. Read More