Systematic Self-Observation of Entoptic Phenomena and Their Relation to Hypnagogia
Joseph Glicksohn, Gailie Friedland, Avi Salach-Nachum
Imagination, Cognition and Personality March 1, 1991 DOI: 10.2190/ef06-jd2w-7j6x-1m63 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Experimental manipulations increased the incidence of entoptics but not hypnagogia, and the two phenomena appear independent, failing to support the entoptic hypothesis. |
Abstract
We report the results of systematic self-observation of entoptics and hypnagogia, in a study whose purpose was to investigate the “entoptic explanation” of hypnagogic imagery (i.e., that entoptic phenomena play a role in the genesis of visual hypnagogic imagery). Employing various experimental manipulations designed to increase the incidence of both phenomena, we were able to show the effectivity of such manipulations on reported incidence of entoptics, but not regarding hypnagogia. Furthermore, the two phenomena seem to be independent, and thus we argue that the entoptic hypothesis cannot be supported. In addition, we report that the frequency of incidence of entoptics is an inverted U-shaped function of level of attention (as defined in this study).
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 |
| The prevalence of nightmares and their independence from anxiety. Undergraduates | 1990 | Observational study using daily dream logs | n = 220 |