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More out of the mouth of Babes:
So I told my grandkids about my trifecta of dreams the other night.
My grandson said that Bain Scientists aren't sure why we dream. They have some theories, but apparently we all dream mostly in REM sleep, but we can dream in any stage of sleep.
My granddaughter thought our brains just make "brain art" ; surrealistic interpretations of what was left in the brain since we aren't consciously getting sensory information I thought that was an insight worth pursuing...brain art. Loved it.
So it turns out one of my grandkids dreams in color...the other Black and White. I do both. So maybe it is a gene. My granddaughter said that in her dreams, even if she is in it, she feels like she is standing outside the dream watching it unfold like a movie.
My grandson says he doesn't remember many dreams at all. So he didn't know if he was in it...or watching himself in it.
But he made me laugh when he said:
"Folks sometimes rehash old mistakes or girlfriends in their dreams. I can't do that, I made my mistakes so long ago I don't remember them. And I haven't had a girlfriend yet. So I guess my dreams are about Hockey and my friends riding bikes"
And those are good dreams.
So I told my grandkids about my trifecta of dreams the other night.
My grandson said that Bain Scientists aren't sure why we dream. They have some theories, but apparently we all dream mostly in REM sleep, but we can dream in any stage of sleep.
My granddaughter thought our brains just make "brain art" ; surrealistic interpretations of what was left in the brain since we aren't consciously getting sensory information I thought that was an insight worth pursuing...brain art. Loved it.
So it turns out one of my grandkids dreams in color...the other Black and White. I do both. So maybe it is a gene. My granddaughter said that in her dreams, even if she is in it, she feels like she is standing outside the dream watching it unfold like a movie.
My grandson says he doesn't remember many dreams at all. So he didn't know if he was in it...or watching himself in it.
But he made me laugh when he said:
"Folks sometimes rehash old mistakes or girlfriends in their dreams. I can't do that, I made my mistakes so long ago I don't remember them. And I haven't had a girlfriend yet. So I guess my dreams are about Hockey and my friends riding bikes"
And those are good dreams.
Humor
Children
Fun
Age
Talking
Posted 16 d ago
Responses: 4
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LMBO -- As We've All Heard, And I Know It's True,
"Facts Are Stranger Than Fiction"- Just A Lot More Fun.!
I Realize We All Dream, But I Recall Few Of Mine - And The Ones I Do Recall Are So Mundane, They're Not Worth Remembering Because They Simply Involve Common Daily Activities With An Occasional Friend Or Family Member Tossed In - And Upon Awakening I Have To Spend A Moment Or 2 Figuring Out If It Actually Happened OR Was It A Dream?-- But Long Ago I Learned Hypnosis And The Easiest Way To Do It Is When The Other Person's In REM Sleep -- Totally Relaxed & Open To Suggestion - I Did It To My 1st Ex-Wife & Had Her Tell Me What She Was Dreaming -- And The Next Morning, As She Was About To Tell Me Her Dream, As I'd Instructed Her To Do, I Interrupted With "Let Me Tell You About My Dream First" -- Low And Behold, We Had The Same Dream-- LMBO, Then I Admitted To Having Messed With Her Mind. And BTW Self Hypnosis Helps With Recall, Studying, Testing & Almost Re-reading the Text In Your Thoughts. -- 1 Of My Assets When Studying Various Programs in The USAF To Increase My Education - Or Lack Thereof.
"Facts Are Stranger Than Fiction"- Just A Lot More Fun.!
I Realize We All Dream, But I Recall Few Of Mine - And The Ones I Do Recall Are So Mundane, They're Not Worth Remembering Because They Simply Involve Common Daily Activities With An Occasional Friend Or Family Member Tossed In - And Upon Awakening I Have To Spend A Moment Or 2 Figuring Out If It Actually Happened OR Was It A Dream?-- But Long Ago I Learned Hypnosis And The Easiest Way To Do It Is When The Other Person's In REM Sleep -- Totally Relaxed & Open To Suggestion - I Did It To My 1st Ex-Wife & Had Her Tell Me What She Was Dreaming -- And The Next Morning, As She Was About To Tell Me Her Dream, As I'd Instructed Her To Do, I Interrupted With "Let Me Tell You About My Dream First" -- Low And Behold, We Had The Same Dream-- LMBO, Then I Admitted To Having Messed With Her Mind. And BTW Self Hypnosis Helps With Recall, Studying, Testing & Almost Re-reading the Text In Your Thoughts. -- 1 Of My Assets When Studying Various Programs in The USAF To Increase My Education - Or Lack Thereof.
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@sgt Kevin Hughes. I GOOGLED this information. It seems more modern than the academic article I read.
Some people dream in black and white (monochromatic) primarily due to their childhood media exposure, with older generations who grew up with black-and-white TV reporting more colorless dreams, while younger people, raised in a color-saturated world, almost always dream in color. Other factors can include individual memory, attention, and conditions like achromatopsia (total color blindness), where the brain has little reference for color, resulting in grayscale dreams.
Key Factors for Black-and-White Dreams:
Media Consumption: A major influence is the type of media consumed during formative years. Studies show a significant drop in black-and-white dreaming after color television became common, suggesting dreams mirror media experiences.
Age: Older adults, especially those over 55, who grew up with limited color media, report dreaming in black and white more often (around 25% of the time) compared to young adults (who report almost never dreaming in B&W).
Memory & Attention: Some researchers suggest it might not be that the dream lacks color, but that the brain doesn't prioritize or encode color information as important for recall, similar to how you might not remember a server's shirt color after a meal.
Achromatopsia: Individuals with this rare genetic condition, who see no color in waking life, often have dreams described as grayscale or based on light and shadow because their brains lack color reference points.
Why Most People Dream in Color:
Dreams are constructed from waking experiences, and for most people, reality is experienced in full color.
The ubiquity of color in modern media reinforces color-based dreaming.
In essence, dreaming in black and white is less about a fundamental neurological inability and more about environmental conditioning, memory, and personal experience, though true color blindness also plays a role.
Some people dream in black and white (monochromatic) primarily due to their childhood media exposure, with older generations who grew up with black-and-white TV reporting more colorless dreams, while younger people, raised in a color-saturated world, almost always dream in color. Other factors can include individual memory, attention, and conditions like achromatopsia (total color blindness), where the brain has little reference for color, resulting in grayscale dreams.
Key Factors for Black-and-White Dreams:
Media Consumption: A major influence is the type of media consumed during formative years. Studies show a significant drop in black-and-white dreaming after color television became common, suggesting dreams mirror media experiences.
Age: Older adults, especially those over 55, who grew up with limited color media, report dreaming in black and white more often (around 25% of the time) compared to young adults (who report almost never dreaming in B&W).
Memory & Attention: Some researchers suggest it might not be that the dream lacks color, but that the brain doesn't prioritize or encode color information as important for recall, similar to how you might not remember a server's shirt color after a meal.
Achromatopsia: Individuals with this rare genetic condition, who see no color in waking life, often have dreams described as grayscale or based on light and shadow because their brains lack color reference points.
Why Most People Dream in Color:
Dreams are constructed from waking experiences, and for most people, reality is experienced in full color.
The ubiquity of color in modern media reinforces color-based dreaming.
In essence, dreaming in black and white is less about a fundamental neurological inability and more about environmental conditioning, memory, and personal experience, though true color blindness also plays a role.
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A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney
SGT Kevin Hughes -
I Never Used The Dewey Decimal System,
And I Had The Grades To Prove It.!
BUT I Did Use Those Pencil Nubs, Worked Great To
Get The Wax Out Of My Ears -
I Never Used The Dewey Decimal System,
And I Had The Grades To Prove It.!
BUT I Did Use Those Pencil Nubs, Worked Great To
Get The Wax Out Of My Ears -
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@sht Kevin Hughes I read an article over 30 years ago that discussed a scientific basis for dreaming in color. There are people who do both. Would you know anything about current articles?
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SGT Kevin Hughes
In my Neuroscience course about ten years ago, the thought was that most of us dream in color. With only a minority dreaming in black and white, and they think that might be because those folks grew up with black and white TV and only thought they didn't dream in color. Some studies suggest that we are more likely to dream in color if we saw vivid colors before going to sleep...sunsets, flowers,or bright clothes. Or...and this I found interesting...strong emotions also tended to create vivid colors in dreams. And it didn't matter if those strong emotions were negative or positive. But my thoughts are a decade old!
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PO3 Phyllis Maynard
SGT Kevin Hughes this is pretty much what the article I responded to is saying. But, I am sure I read something more academic/scientific about 30 years ago.
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SGT Kevin Hughes
PO3 Phyllis Maynard - Oh Yeah, the Nineties were the Decade of the Brain, and there were many small studies (most under 300 people) about dreaming.
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