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Synesthetic Photisms and Hypnagogic Visions: a Comparison.

Carol Steen

Multisensory Research 2017 DOI: 10.1163/22134808-00002557 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics First-person phenomenological account Peer reviewed
Sample size 1
Population The author, a lifelong synesthete
Topics Dreaming
Keywords Synesthesia Hypnagogic visions Synesthetic photisms
Key points Hypnagogic visions share visual commonalities with synesthetic photisms but also differ in triggers and other features, and both can occur in the same experience.

Abstract

I have been a synesthete all my life and thought I understood my synesthetic perceptions rather well when, suddenly, in 2013, I began to see a new kind of internal image: hypnagogic visions. These visions, a normal state of consciousness, are known to occur somewhere between wakefulness and sleep. They appeared to me as another source of photisms, in addition to my usual synesthetic experiences. But when I described these new visions to some researchers there was a wide range of reactions, from concern, to acknowledgement of similar experiences. While hypnagogic visions are different in some ways from my synesthesia, which I previously described in my paper, Visions Shared: A Firsthand Look into Synesthesia and Art (Steen, 2001, Leonardo 34, pp. 203-208), I find they share some commonalities. In this paper I will explore both the visual similarities and differences in my synesthetic photisms and hypnagogic visions, discuss when my hypnagogic images first appeared, and where I see them. I will compare the triggers or lack of them, range of colors, lines, shapes, geometric ornamentations, and movements I see, and mention seeing usually separate synesthetic photisms and hypnagogic visions occur in the same experience.

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Nonwaking Responses to Waking Stressors: Dreams and Nightmares1 Men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict, varying in... 1990 Survey interview study n = 442
Communing with the Gods: The Dreaming Brain in Cross-cultural Perspective 2011 Phenomenological study
Partial memory reinstatement while (lucid) dreaming to change the dream environment. Lucid dreamers 2020 Qualitative study
Strange themes in pandemic dreams: Insomnia was associated with more negative, anxious and death‐related dreams during the COVID‐19 pandemic Global survey participants 2022 Longitudinal mixed-methods study n = 2,240

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