Dreaming in Black and White

1. CelticCatEyes
   October 18th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

   I went and read the article from the link, and unless I am mistaken, what the findings actually mean to me is this: Everyone dreams in color, but because people over 55 watched black and white movies more, they dreamed in b/w 15-20% more of the time than people who didn't watch b/w movies often.

   So, to me the title seems misleading because most of us dream in color most of the time. It would make sense that people watching b/w TV dream in b/w sometimes because I'm sure we've all had dreams about the movies/news/cartoons we watch, so for the brain the surroundings of those dreams would be in b/w. I am sure they still watch the movies they enjoyed when they were younger, and the subconscious still dredges up those memories while they are asleep.

2. Christophe
   October 18th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

   I watch Neatorama in color, so I dream in color

3. Church
   October 18th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

   And yet I don't dream in text.

4. LisaL
   October 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

   Lol Church

5. Lamonstrous
   October 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

   Before black and white tvs and film, did people dream in black and white? This is like that Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin's dad tells him that the whole world used to be black and white.

6. Ali S.
   October 18th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

   Fascinating study. I wonder why folks don't dream more in text adventure games?

   You see a road up ahead.
   > Walk down road

   You find yourself staring at a giant dragon sitting at the fork of the road.
   > Look at dragon

   The dragon is big, red, and looks hungrily at you.
   >Talk to dragon

   Before you can say a word the dragon picks you up and says,"Would you like to know the meaning of your life?"

   Y/N?
   >N

   The dragon says,"The meaning of life is..."

   *BEEP BEEP BEEP*

   Then you realize you've been woken up by your alarm clock. You curse the clock and hold your head in contempt at the rising sun.

   Scored: 2/158

7. ted
   October 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

   I dream more in porn.

8. seekshelter
   October 18th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   its what you are familiar with... i have a friend that is deaf. i had his girlfriend ask him(sign) if he had dreams of people talking to him or signing to him... i suppose you can guess what his answer is. which is obvious. how many times have you had a dream where someone was talking to you in a language you didnt know? and i don't mean gibberish that you 'just knew' was a certain language...

9. Nawel
   October 18th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

   It's so crazy, I spend my early childhood dreaming with stuff in black&white ('cause we didn't have a color TV by the time), and that only changed when we got a new TV set. There was this serial (Logan's Run), up to this day I can't imagine the characters in colors - I know their uniforms had green lines, but I still "see" grey (hehe).

   thanks for posting the link

10. Nathan Miller
    October 18th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    I dream in B&W, but I've always had a color TV. Of course, when I was younger, almost all the movies we watched at home were b&w simply because they are the best movies, but that doesn't mean I didn't see color tv or movies.

    I still dream primarily in B&W, though I recall a few dreams that have had one or two colors in them, à la Schindler's List and the Red girl.

11. issacsullivan
    October 18th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    It's 2008, where are the holodecks?

12. TwoDragons
    October 18th, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    I dream in color. Usually the colors are more vivid than they are in real life. I don't ever recall having dreamed in black and white, come to think of it...

    Also, my dreams are notoriously surreal. Some of the scariest nightmares I've ever had were actually "normal" dreams of potential real-life tragedies. They creep the holy heck out of me!

    --TwoDragons

13. tona b.
    October 18th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    I was a film student, so I dream whole movies, in different styles. B/W, color, musical scores; I even got credits once!

14. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    October 19th, 2008 at 12:08 am

    So people who lived before movies and TV didn't dream.

    Right?

15. Tempscire
    October 19th, 2008 at 4:06 am

    I can't recall ever dreaming in black and white. It never even occurred to me that someone with full-color vision (er...not-colorblind) would even do that. It seems like it could add a fun twist to the recollection of the dream-- not only did it have surreal dreaminess, but it would be like an old film.

16. Yum-Yum
    October 19th, 2008 at 11:07 am

    I dream in HD.

17. Kipling
    October 19th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    I wonder if people in the 1300's dreamed in wood-block prints?

18. willf
    October 19th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    I never remember my dreams. You might think that means I didn't have a TV at all, but unfortunately I have burned many an hour in front of one.

19. ModernMan
    October 19th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    I remember dreaming in 8-Bit sometimes when I was a kid.

20. boliyou
    October 21st, 2008 at 11:19 pm

    I grew up during the transition. I always thought I just remembered the dreams that were in color.

21. kandy kane
    October 24th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    I have always been fascinated w/the Brain and dreaming. I do not ever recall any of my dreams too be in Blk/Wht.
    They are always colorful, Very Bright and Radiant Colors. I do recall having a cartoon'd Dream. That was crazy in it's self. As for dreams related to how we watch T.V. in our younger years, well, I Watched A Lot of
    Cartoons. But anymore the dreams I have relate to life as I know it now. It is like I go to sleep and wake up in another life role, I feel, smell, hear everything around me just like In this waking hour. Very ViViD..
    YEA!!!!. Like your sight you have going on here. Keep it up.
    Thanx, Kandy Kane.

22. MoonCake
    October 26th, 2008 at 9:53 am

    so, dreaming in color after the 60s had NOTHING to do with the introduction of LSD and other hallucinogens?

    and what about the people between 25-55? they were not even included in this study... do their dreams look like unfinished color-by-number pictures?

    i always thought EVERYONE dreamt in b/w, but because we know what color things "should" be we perceive color in our dreams. the same for our memories. everyones' memories are black and white, but because we know "timmy was wearing a red shirt that day" we "see" a red shirt in the memory. i think that seems more likely than that of the TV transition from b/w to color.....

23. Orobas
    November 18th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    You dream in color simply because that is how nature has been since forever. With the introduction of black and white television, the mind was exposed to the possibilty of a monochromatic enviroment. Since those older people were a part of that time in history, it has made more of an impression on their minds.

    I'd also bet the farm that should we ever create a holographic enviroment where everything was semi transparent, you would start having dreams that way. Most likely it would be quite often during intial exposure and the decline with time.

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