Comments on an Investigation of the Relative Degree of Activation in Lucid Dreams

Abstract

Observations and experiments in connection the light switch phenomenon (LSP) both in my case and those of others (See LL’s 3 & 4) prompt me to suggest that in dreaming, including lucid dreaming, a significant amount of the anomalous content arises as a result of the reliance by the dreamer upon patterns of expectation which though appropriate in waking life are not appropriate to the changed circumstances under which dream imagery is constructed. In particular in the LSP the time taken for dream imagery to be constructed, even though it is only a matter of seconds, is rather longer than the time taken for a scene to be illuminated and perceived while awake after switching on areal electric light. The failure of the mechanism which creates dream imagery to perform at a rate which conforms to the dreamer’s waking expectations leads to further anomalies as other expectations are brought in to explain why the light does not come on. These expectations are also inappropriate because in dreams there are e.g., no fuses to blow or other material causes of that nature; the material causes lie in the brain and the brain does not work upon the same principles as those of domestic electricity distribution. There are certainly no fuses in the brain.