Video game play as nightmare protection: A preliminary inquiry with military gamers.
Jayne Gackenbach, Evelyn Ellerman, Christie Hall
Dreaming August 22, 2011 DOI: 10.1037/a0024972 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Soldiers who play video games |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Video game Applied psychology Multimedia Psychotherapist |
| Citations | 22 |
| Key findings | High-frequency gamers exhibited less threat and war content in their military dreams than low-frequency gamers. |
Abstract
Soldiers who play video games to varying degrees were solicited to fill out a survey on dreams and gaming. A prescreening filtered out those who were not soldiers, who did not game and who were suffering from various psychological problems in the last six months. The remaining soldiers filled out these inventories; general and military demographics, history of video game play, Emotional Reactivity and Numbing Scale (ERNS), and a Trauma Inventory. They were then asked to provide two dreams, one recent and one that was impactful from their military service. Following the military dream they filled out Impactful Dreams Questionnaire (IDQ) about that dream only. Dream content analysis was conducted using threat simulation, war content and lucid/control/gaming content. High and low end frequency gamer groups were identified and compared on these dream content scales. Because the nightmare literature shows that affect load and distress are predictors of nightmare suffering. ERNS and Trauma history were covariates in the ANCOVA’s on gamer group x dream type. It was found that the high end gaming group exhibited less threat and war content in their military dreams than the low end group.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming Frontiers in Psychology August 18, 2015
- Mindfulness and Lucid Dream Frequency Predicts the Ability to Control Lucid Dreams Imagination, Cognition and Personality December 20, 2016
- Virtual Reality-Enabled Treatment of Nightmares Dreaming September 1, 2018
- Media Use and Gender Relationship to the Nightmare Protection Hypothesis: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Dreaming June 1, 2018
- A New Measure of Hallucinatory States and a Discussion of REM Sleep Dreaming as a Virtual Laboratory for the Rehearsal of Embodied Cognition. Cognitive Science 2018
Cites 4
- Electronic media and lucid-control dreams: Morning after reports. Dreaming March 1, 2009
- Video Game Play Effects on Dreams: Self-Evaluation and Content Analysis Eludamos Journal for Computer Game Culture September 21, 2008
- Reflective awareness in dreams following loss and trauma 2010
- Variety and intensity of emotions in nightmares and bad dreams. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease April 1, 2006