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0 points3144y ago0 comments

I have aphantasia (when I'm awake) and visual imagery in my dreams that is sharper and more detailed than real life. I'm also able to lucidly dream although I try not to as it messes with my long term memory.

I would say that we can dream about most things but there are a few obvious limits as there are types of thoughts that will make you wake up:

* Reading is difficult and typically books in dreams don't have words in them.

* "Pushing" (there is no good word for this) the direction of a dream in a particular way too hard will wake you up. It has to be done very gently.

* Abstract reasoning / logic is difficult in dreams, it causes you to concentrate too hard and then you wake up.

In general the limits are to do with the two dominant modes of thought: spontaneous unquestioning creation of ideas is very compatible with dreaming and you can float easily between multiple "perspectives" or versions without any problem. Analytical / questioning / critical thinking is incompatible with dreaming and causes you to wake up. Lucid dreaming is typically learning how to float in the sweet spot between the two modes.

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FPGAhacker4y ago· 3 in thread

> I have aphantasia (when I'm awake) and visual imagery in my dreams that is sharper and more detailed than real life.

I'm not being snarky, but... how do you know? I mean, if you can't visualize when you are awake, how do you even know what you see/saw when you were dreaming?

mikelevins4y ago

I'm guessing they can remember having seen things in the dream in the same way that they can remember having seen things in waking life, but cannot voluntarily conjure arbitrary images while awake.

I think the range of abilities and experiences around visualization, perceptual memory, and so forth, suggests that seeing and remembering are pretty complicated collections of multiple simultaneous processes that are a little differently expressed in different people, and that are not necessarily perfectly coordinated.

More generally, I think we tend to think of ourselves as singular, but we have pretty good reasons to think that a person isn't actually a singular thing, but is instead a collection of many processes that are only more or less coordinated and cooperating.

314OP4y ago

I don't really understand your question - do you experience dreaming in a different way? I can remember what I saw in a dream, but I cannot visualize it. This is the same as waking memories - I can remember what I saw but I cannot see it again.

The only exception would be the hypnogogic state when I have visual imagery but I'm not entirely present to process it.

confidantlake4y ago

Why would you need to be visualize when you were awake to remember what you saw when you were dreaming? As someone who has Aphantasia but does see when they dream this question in really puzzling.

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