this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation

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I just had a dream with very distinct (and beautiful) colors, which made me think about how my other dreams are pretty boring

For me I think it only happens every few months (or years)

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

I don't recall ever having a dream that was not in color.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Every time. If I remember the dream.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't think about dreaming in color, but I don't dream in b&w either

Like, I dream in normal colours without realising it

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I'm pretty sure everyone dreams in color without always consciously noticing that. There would be no reason to dream in black and white because we don't view the world in black and white.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I seldom recall my dreams at all, but whenever I do they seem to feature the normal range of colours. I have always found the idea that dreams are NOT usually in colour to be very odd.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yep, I don't remember having dreams 99% of the time, but the ones that I remember had normal colours and mostly involved locations where I have been before.

The only weird aspect that I recall is that the connections aren't physically possible, like, I would be walking on the street where I grew up, turn a corner, and would see my bedroom just there to the side where previously and in real life there was an another building or just nothing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a myth that most people don't dream in color. People just dream mainly in grayscale when they are exposed to black and white media a lot. That's why Silent Generation and Boomers do that a lot (bw TV) and that's where the whole myth emerged from.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810008001323

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And they told us TV would rot our brains.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Maybe they were speaking from experience?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

My sister seems to have dull or no color dreams by default, and she's not a boomer like other commenter suggested. She's the only person I know who doesn't normally dream with the same range of colours as in waking everyday life. But sometimes she does have colourful ones iirc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Every time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I typically only dream in color. I'm also one of the rare people who experiences pain in my dreams.

Like recently I had a dream where I was attacked by a shark and it bit my hands. It felt just like when my hands were bitten by a dog (in real life). I could feel my hands being crushed and hear the sounds of my cartridge crunching like in the dog bites.

Even if I don't have a reference point for it, I'll still experience pain for injuries like a gunshot or terrible aching pain radiating from a compound fracture or something. I've had zombie dreams where I've felt bites being taken out of me when swarmed and eaten alive.

Now if I could only learn to lucid dream reliably...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I rarely dream but have not noticed if it was color or black and white. I'd guess that it was color if I had to say one way or the other

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Always. I kept a dream journal for a while and I definitely would have noticed if one of my dreams was in greyscale.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Always, obviously.

The visuals in dreams are the same that your vision is used to. Only without the realities of eyes and effects like weather and dust etc, unless they're a part of the plot. Dreams are like hyper real quality images with the detail that you don't notice left out. That's what the brain is capable of synthesizing and that's what another part of your brain expects to experience.

It's possible to see greyscale dreams if it's a part of the plot. I was just in a dream where I was in a grey city in grey clothes. I remember vaguely a long ago dream that was pretty colourless because it was dark and snowy. Also, one dream I was out standing in rain that was so dense that all I could see was a grey wall of water in every direction. They were all colourless for plot reasons.

Things brains are generally good at showing: colourful, familiar images. Things brains are not good at: steady images of text, causality. Try reading a paper in a dream, watch a digital clock, turn a light switch. Look in the mirror if you dare.

Yes, I've practiced recall a bit and used to keep notes. And done some studying a long ago.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

unless they’re a part of the plot

I think this bit is key for me. It's not important most of the time, unless it's a part of the plot. In this case, the view was beautiful, and so I guess it needed color :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Usually. My dreams tend to be pretty cinematic though and have different colour palettes depending on the dream.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This question has messed me up, cause I never considered colors in my dreams. When journaling I can recall the dream as if I were experiencing it, but I find it impossible to create an image. Imma chalk it up to my aphantasia being funky

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not very often because I don't dream very often, but I'd say I dream in all thirteen colours when I do dream (even if not in high-definition).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't remember any dreams

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I remember figments but its not enough to identify if it was in color or not. Otherwise I either don't dream or remember them (I assume its I just don't remember)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't dream very often at all, but when I do it's always in colour.