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Paper presented at Towards a Science of Consciousness, Tucson, AZ, April 2010
Citation preview
Video Game Play and Lucid Dreaming as Socially Constructed Meditative Absorption
Jayne Gackenbach & Harry HuntGrant MacEwan University, Brock University
Paper presented at Towards a Science of Consciousness, Tucson,AZ April, 2010
Hero’s Journey in Myth and Gaming
Hero’s Journey in Myth and Gaming
Lost Common Ground
Hero’s Journey in Myth and Gaming
Trailer for a video game “Chronicles of Mystery: Scorpio Ritual”
Gamers and the Vision Quest
Korean Bangs
Social/mythological Gaming
Two LANS in My Home Town
My basement
Lucid Dreams and Video Game Game Play: Concepts Examined
• Bizarreness • Cognition in dreams• Hall and Van de Castle
Content analysis All three in paper under editorial consideration
Gackenbach, Hunt & Dopko, 2010
Hard Core Gamer Defined
• Plays video games on average several times a week
• Typical playing session is more than 2 hours• Played 50 or more video games over your
lifetime• Been playing video games since grade three or
earlier• And increasingly, POV games preferred?
Myth as Dream Bizarreness
• What we now call “bizarreness” was central to traditional “dream centered” tribal societies (Hunt, 1989).
Significant Differences from Male Norms
More dead or imaginary characters appearing in dream reports (21% vs 0%).
Why be human in a game? They have fewer powers than other types of creatures.
Dead or Imaginary Characters
Subject 001- Dream 11 “I dreamt I was a character is Underworld 2, it was a
werewolf character and then I became a 3rd person. It was the two main characters, it was the vampire girl and a hybrid werewolf character”
Gaming and Dream Bizarreness
• Dream content analysis for bizarreness was conducted using the system developed by Revonsuo and Salmivalli (1995).
• distinguishes between types of bizarreness. • In two studies hard core gamers more bizarre
dreams• Lucid-Gaming Bizarreness Associations
Factor Analysis on Game Play, Lucid Related Dream & Bizarreness Variables
Video game history (freq, length, # games, age begin) .760 -.214 .377 .101Video Games played day before dream .694 -.127 .467 -.025Recent Dream - Lucidity .305 -.258 -.746 -.158Recent Dream - Type of Observer (Hi=observer) .271 -.028 -.060 -.806Recent Dream - Control .570 -.239 -.447 .215nonbizarreness mean .071 .706 -.035 -.119vagueness variables mean .322 .371 .129 .196discontinuous mean .047 .642 -.187 .242Incongruous distorted sum .324 .384 -.043 -.311Incongruous exotic sum .378 .482 -.159 .051Incongruous impossible sum .282 -.121 -.243 .355
Gaming with and without lucidity-control but with lucidity-control you have bizarreness
Lucid – Control Dreams & Gaming• Subject #014: Lucidity triggered by an event
Michael: Well, once Jean Grey (a marvel comic and video game character) got loose and started killing people, I was like this is really weird this is
probably a dream and it was like right after that she showed up and I told myself that I need to
wake up. I thought that something bad was supposed to happen and I didn’t want it to happen so I should
wake up.Gackenbach, 2006, 2009a, b; & Kurvilla, 2008;
Gackenbach, et al. (2009).
Parallels Video Gaming/Lucidity
• Video game Play1. video games
technologically constructed alternative realities
2. Video gaming has been associated with improved spatial skills
3. Low motion sickness needed to play a lot
4. High attention & absorption reported by players and researchers
• Lucid/control dreams1. Dream worlds biologically
constructed alternative realities
2. Lucid dreamers show better spatial skills
3. Lucid dreamers have better vestibular systems (not susceptible to motion sickness)
4. Meditation is highly associated with lucidity and is training in developing one pointed attention/absorption
Is the Lucidity – Video Game Play Association Self Selection?
• Yes– To be a serious player you
need to not suffer motion sickness
– For serious game play spatial skills are an advantage
– Most games of serious players cater to boys
– Those who are able to get absorbed should do better
• No– Almost all children
through to young adults play some form these days
– Spatial skills improve with play
– Girl games are being developed and is a large growing market
– Attention/absorption improve with play
Bottom Line
• Gaming is too wide spread to reduce to purely self selection
• There is something enticing about being in virtual worlds
• There is increasing social pressure to play
Percent growth in US 2006-2007
1 2 3 4 5
Clarity of dream -.001 -.446 -.104 .162 .699
Lucidity .391 -.469 -.292 .208 -.143
Type of Observer (hi=3rd per) .121 -.259 .293 .611 -.494
Control .527 -.303 -.495 -.088 .064Nightmare .185 -.262 .575 .397 .285
Electronic media.025 .531 -.393 .574 -.013
mean of audio only media (phone, radio, CD/mp3) .436 .257 .551 -.200 .114
mean of audio and video media (TV/DVD, movie) .413 .518 -.105 .291 .288
mean of interactive media (computer/internet, vid gm) .718 .208 .069 -.110 .056
gamer groups (0 = non-gamer, 1 = low, 2 = mod, 3 =
high).653 -.103 -.004 -.231 -.273
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.Last night, rested dreams, N = 152
Drilling Down
Further Explorations of the Lucid/control and Video
Game Playing Association
The Importance of Point of ViewIs it detachment or practice from gaming?
Importance of Point of View (POV)• Gamer reported an interesting detachment from the dream
events:– As the car was burning I opened the door and leaned out to leave but made
the decision to stay inside instead because I was curious to see what I would look like burning alive. While I felt the heat, smelt the smoke, I didn't feel any pain. I felt detached from the feelings, but recognized that they were my own. (Subject #28)
• He also reported – not a nightmare, not scared, but it was violent
– NOT lucid and no control (I wonder?)
• This is noteworthy because it echoes the descriptions of witnessing dreams that previous research has found among meditators with the same observing but uninvolved emotional reaction (Mason et al., 1995; Gackenbach & Bosveld, 1989).
Importance of Point of View (POV)• Emotions
– Sort of. I knew what the person I saw as myself felt, but didn't share those feelings. Throughout the emotions of disgust, loneliness, or excitement were all ones I thought best fit the "character" of myself based on the situation.
• Thinking about actions– I was constantly thinking about my every move, making sure that
whatever I did was in my best interest. If anything was off-putting (the carnival owner, the desert) I simply moved on.
• Thinking about surroundings– I was constantly analyzing my surroundings...– At the city where I drove my car, I noticed the simplicity of the
environment, which seemed to be constructed out of simple polygons. Obviously that was a video game environment, much like Grand Theft Auto.
Meta-cognitive, Affective, Cognitive Experience Questionnaire (MACE)
• Developed/adapted by Kahan (1996)• MACE focuses on cognitive elements to the
dream and their relationship to waking• Question: When gaming is associated with
lucidity what other metacognitive elements in the dream are present?
• From Gackenbach & Kuruvilla (2008)
Factor Analysis: Factor 2 Lucid/GameZ-score for gamer type .023 .466 -.076 .569 -.099 -.063
Predream gaming -.267 .455 -.068 .588 -.248 .036
lucidity in dream .102 .591 -.026 -.270 .327 -.441
Observer POV in dream -.348 .315 -.299 .349 .528 -.006
control in dream -.128 .708 .252 -.238 .095 .120
Choice .385 .102 .249 .067 -.339 -.402
Internal Commentary .473 .354 -.220 -.406 -.278 -.061
Sudden Attention -.167 .037 .589 -.065 .193 -.008
Focused Attention .662 .096 .355 .354 .088 -.092
Thwarted intention .463 -.343 .191 .343 .299 .203
Public self consciousness .388 -.126 -.649 .095 .019 .188
Emotion .352 -.001 -.446 -.158 .458 -.182
Reflective aware own thoughts, feelings .072 .463 -.184 -.172 -.169 .614
Reflective aware own behavior .764 .132 -.062 .129 -.080 .000
Reflective aware external environment .377 .161 .443 -.114 .269 .438
MACE
dreamgaming
Factor 2 Example
MACE Conclusions
• It appears that gaming can add a dimension to the lucid dream such that its full potential for focused problem solving is possible.
• It may be that lucid dreams of gamers are more like waking cognition than other dreams.
Hall & Van de Castle Content Analysis of Lucid vs Nonlucid Dreams of Gamers from 4 Previous Studies
Gender Dream Row totals
male Lucid 53
male nonlucid 219
female Lucid 27
female nonlucid 131
total 430
Dream Type Differences among Gamers
Significant difference variables All gamers Nonlucids
All gamers Lucids
Social Interaction Percents
Aggressor Percent 26% 44%Settings
Familiar Setting Percent 50% 35%Self-Concept Percents
Self-Negativity Percent 85% 65% Dreamer-Involved Success Percent 38% 77%Dreams with at Least One:
Sexuality 03% 10% Success 07% 14%
Gamer – Lucidity Conclusions• Bizarreness
– Gaming & lucidity/control associated with dream bizarreness and supports the mythic fulfilling function of gaming in consciousness
• Cognitive element– Gaming & Lucidity associated with some
metacognition enhancements
• HVDC content analysis – lucid dreams of gamers tend toward an overall
much more positive dream atmosphere.
Implications
• Can video game play be viewed as a type of meditation with some of the same outcomes?– Gackenbach, J.I. (2008). Video game play and
consciousness development: A transpersonal perspective. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 40(1), 60-87.
• Lucidity is very often experienced in various meditators and indeed is valued by them
• The comparison of lucid dreams as a function of gaming suggests that gaming improves the already largely positive lucid dreaming effects