Return to: Psychology, Culture, and Evolution

Return to: Psychology, Culture, and Evolution

Full Text of this article is available at: http://extra.idealibrary.com/production/ccog/1999/8/3/ccog.1999.0404/0404a.pdf

Return to: Psychology, Culture, and Evolution

(in press). Behavioral and Brain Science, 23, 

Play, Dreams, and Simulation 

 Threat themes are clearly over-represented in dreams. Threat is, however, not the only theme with potential evolutionary significance. Even for hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations during sleep paralysis, for which threat themes are far commoner than for ordinary dreaming, consistent non-threat themes have been reported. Revonsuo's simulation hypothesis represents an encouraging initiative to develop an evolutionary functional approach to dream-related experiences but could be broadened to include evolutionarily relevant themes beyond threat. It is also suggested that Revonsuo's evolutionary re-interpretation of dreams might profitably be compared to arguments for, and models of, similar evolutionary functions of play.

Full Text

Return to: Psychology, Culture, and Evolution

 (1999). Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8, 133-150.

The Ominous Numinous 

Sensed Presence and ‘Other’ Hallucinations

 A ‘sensed presence’ often accompanies hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations associated with sleep paralysis. Qualitative descriptions of the sensed presence during sleep paralysis are consistent with the experience of a monitoring, stalking predator. It is argued that the sensed presence during sleep paralysis arises because of REM-related endogenous activation of a hypervigilant and biased attentive state, the normal function of which is to resolve ambiguities inherent in biologically relevant threat cues. Given the lack of disambiguating environmental cues, however, the feeling of presence persists as a protracted experience that is both numinous and ominous. This experience, in turn, shapes the elaboration and integration of the concurrent hallucinations that often take on supernatural and daemonic qualities. The sense of presence considered here is an ‘other’ that is radically different from, and hence more than a mere projection of, the self. Such a numinous sense of otherness may constitute a primordial core consciousness of the animate and sentient in the world around us.

Return to: Psychology, Culture, and Evolution

 (in press). Journal of Sleep Research, 11.

Situational factors affecting sleep paralysis and associated hallucinations:

Position and timing effects

 Sleep paralysis (SP) entails a period of paralysis upon waking or falling asleep and is often accompanied by terrifying hallucinations. Two situational conditions for sleep paralysis, body position (supine, prone, and left or right lateral decubitus) and timing (beginning, middle, or end of sleep), were investigated in two studies involving 6730 subjects, including 4699 SP experients. A greater number of individuals reported SP in the supine position than all other positions combined. The supine position was also 3-4 times more common during SP than when normally falling asleep. The supine position during SP was reported to be more prevalent at the middle and end of sleep than at the beginning suggesting that the SP episodes at the later times might arise from brief microarousals during REM, possibly induced by apnea. Reported frequency of SP was also greater among those consistently reporting episodes at the beginning and middle of sleep than among those reporting episodes when waking up at the end of sleep. The effects of position and timing of SP on the nature of hallucinations that accompany SP were also examined. Modest effects were found for SP timing, but not body position, and the reported intensity of hallucinations and fear during SP. Thus, body position and timing of SP episodes appear to affect both the incidence and, to a lesser extent, the quality of the SP experience.

Return to: Psychology, Culture, and Evolution

Psychology, Culture, and Evolution