Dreams might represent a window on altered states of consciousness with relevance to psychotic experiences, where reality monitoring is impaired. We examined reality monitoring in healthy, non-psychotic individuals with varying degrees of dream awareness using a task designed to assess confabulatory memory errors - a confusion regarding reality whereby information from the past feels falsely...
This article explores transcendental experiences during meditation practice and the integration of transcendental experiences and the unfolding of higher states of consciousness with waking, dreaming, and sleeping. The subject/object relationship during transcendental experiences is characterized by the absence of time, space, and body sense--the framework that gives meaning to waking...
We normally assess another individual's level of consciousness based on her or his ability to interact with the surrounding environment and communicate. Usually, if we observe purposeful behavior, appropriate responses to sensory inputs, and, above all, appropriate answers to questions, we can be reasonably sure that the person is conscious. However, we know that consciousness can be entirely...
The relationship between time in dreams and real time has intrigued scientists for centuries. The question if actions in dreams take the same time as in wakefulness can be tested by using lucid dreams where the dreamer is able to mark time intervals with prearranged eye movements that can be objectively identified in EOG recordings. Previous research showed an equivalence of time for counting...
A performance das narrativas entre os índios Siona manifestam a função estética, apontada por Richard Bauman e outros, por meio da recriação da experiência das viagens xamânicas e da transformação de perspectiva que faz parte dos ritos com o uso do enteógeno yajé (ayahuasca). Nestas viagens, a perspectiva cotidiana é substituída por uma outra, que permite à plateia conhecer os seres que habitam...
Llewellyn's proposal that rapid eye movement (REM) dreaming reflects elaborative encoding mediated by the hippocampus ("seahorse") offers an interesting perspective for understanding hallucinations accompanying sleep paralysis (SP; "night-mare"). SP arises from anomalous intrusion of REM processes into waking consciousness, including threat-detection systems mediated by the amygdala ("almond")....
A voluminous amount of research on the multi-faceted complex process of meditation is now available. Meditation [Dhyan], an ancient Indian art and science of healing, has an immense potential to liberate the mankind from the Stress Associated Diseases [SADs] which, today, are addressed as Noninfectious Chronic Diseases [NCDs]. But unfortunately the Conclusion from the currently available...
Can ancient art of memory (AAOM) principles explain the function of dreaming? The analysis of self-experience in dreams suggests that the answer is no: The phenomenal dream self lacks certain dimensions that are crucial for the efficacy of AAOM in wakefulness. However, the comparison between dreams and AAOM may be fruitful by suggesting new perspectives for the study of lucid dreaming as well...
Sleep, sleepiness, and dreaming are expressed throughout Dante Alighieri's (1265-1321) the Divine Comedy from the start of his journey through the afterlife. In the book, Dante complains that he is "full of sleep," and he experiences sudden wake-dreaming transitions, short and refreshing naps, visions and hallucinations, unconscious behaviors, episodes of muscle weakness, and falls which are...
Abstract Integrative and naturalistic philosophy of mind can both learn from and contribute to the contemporary cognitive sciences of dreaming. Two related phenomena concerning self‐representation in dreams demonstrate the need to bring disparate fields together. In most dreams, the protagonist or dream self who experiences and actively participates in dream events is or represents the dreamer:...