Systematic Self-Observation of Entoptic Phenomena and Their Relation to Hypnagogia

Abstract

We report the results of systematic self-observation of entoptics and hypnagogia, in a study whose purpose was to investigate the “entoptic explanation” of hypnagogic imagery (i.e., that entoptic phenomena play a role in the genesis of visual hypnagogic imagery). Employing various experimental manipulations designed to increase the incidence of both phenomena, we were able to show the effectivity of such manipulations on reported incidence of entoptics, but not regarding hypnagogia. Furthermore, the two phenomena seem to be independent, and thus we argue that the entoptic hypothesis cannot be supported. In addition, we report that the frequency of incidence of entoptics is an inverted U-shaped function of level of attention (as defined in this study).

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Lewis-Williams

J. D.

Dowson

T. A.

, The Signs of All Times: Entoptic Phenomena in Upper Palaeolithic Art, Current Anthropology, 29:2, pp. 201–245, 1988.

Oster

, Phosphenes, Scientific American, 222:2, pp. 83–87, 1970.

Tyler

C. W.

, Some New Entoptic Phenomena, Vision Research, 18, pp. 1633–1639, 1978.

Glicksohn

, Photic Driving and Altered States of Consciousness: An Exploratory Study, Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 6:2, pp. 167–182, 1986–87.

Siegel

R. K.

Jarvik

M. E.

, Drug-Induced Hallucinations in Animals and Man, in Hallucinations: Behavior, Experience, and Theory, Siegel

R. K.

West

L. J.

(eds.), Wiley, New York, pp. 81–161, 1975.

Horowitz

M. J.

, Image Formation and Cognition, (2nd Edition), Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1978.

Mavromatis

, Hypnagogia: The Unique State of Consciousness Between Wakefulness and Sleep, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1987.

Schacter

D. L.

, The Hypnagogic State: A Critical Review of the Literature, Psychological Bulletin, 83:3, pp. 452–481, 1976.

Glicksohn

, The Structure of Subjective Experience: Interdependencies Along the Sleep-Wakefulness Continuum, Journal of Mental Imagery, 13:2, pp. 99–106, 1989.

10.

Klüver

, Mescal and Mechanisms of Hallucinations, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1966.

11.

Hunt

H. T.

, A Cognitive Psychology of Mystical and Altered State Experience, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 58, pp. 467–513, 1984.

12.

Tellegen

, Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, University of Minnesota, 1982.

13.

Tellegen

, Practicing the Two Disciplines for Relaxation and Enlightenment: Comment on “Role of the Feedback Signal in Electromyographic Biofeedback: The Relevance of Attention” by Quails and Sheehan, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 110, pp. 217–226, 1981.

14.

Horowitz

Adler

Kegeles

, A Scale for Measuring the Occurrence of Positive States of Mind: A Preliminary Report, Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, pp. 477–483, 1988.

15.

Stoyva

, Biofeedback Techniques and the Conditions for Hallucinatory Activity, in The Psychophysiology of Thinking: Studies of Covert Processes, McGuigan

F. J.

Schoonover

R. A.

(eds.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 387–406, 1973.

16.

Richardson

, Imagery: Definition and Types, in Imagery: Current Theory, Research, and Application, Sheikh

A. A.

(ed.), Wiley, New York, pp. 3–40, 1983.

17.

Shepard

R. N.

, Externalization of Mental Images and the Act of Creation, in Visual Learning, Thinking, and Communication, Randahawa

B. S.

Coffman

W. E.

(eds.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 133–189, 1978.

18.

Shepard

R. N.

, Ecological Constraints on Internal Representation: Resonant Kinematics of Perceiving, Imagining, Thinking, and Dreaming, Psychological Review, 91:4, pp. 417–447, 1984.