Dream experience in the absence of vision
2nd International Conference on Central Nervous System and Therapeutics
June 10-11, 2019 | Edinburgh, Scotland
Shabbir Saiffudin
University of Dubai, UAE
Scientific Tracks Abstracts : J Neurol Neurorehabil Res
Abstract:
As vision is the predominant sensory modality in the
dreams of normally sighted people, it is reasonable
to ask do blind individuals have visual dreams? Blindness,
particularly when it occurs early in life, is associated with
reduced visual imagery and an increased incidence of sleep
disturbances including more frequent nightmares. However,
the sensory and emotional dream qualities of individuals with
differing blindness etiologies remain poorly studied.
The goal of the present study was to further assess the
dream experiences of individuals with different times of
blindness onset. We examined dream reports collected from
11 blind individuals who reported no light perception, and
11 age- and sex-matched normal-sighted controls. Of the
blind individuals, 5 were born blind (congenital blind) and
6 had acquired blindness sometime after birth (late blind).
Dream content and themes were examined using daily dream
questionnaires collected over a period of 30 days, as well as
with the Inventory of Dreams
Experiences and Attitudes (IDEA) questionnaire and the
Typical Dreams Questionnaire (TDQ). As expected, the
incidence of visual dream elements was much lower in both
groups of blind individuals, while other sensory modalities
were more present. Further, congenitally blind individuals,
but not late blind individuals, reported more nightmares.
Although dream themes were generally similar between
blind and normal-sighted individuals, as well as between the
congenital and late blind groups, we noted some contents that
were characteristic of the blind. Particularly, they reported a
greater intensity of positive emotions in their dreams, as well
as a more positive attitude towards the dreaming experience.
Blindness not only results in the reduction of visual elements
in dream content, but may alter their emotional quality,
including a heightened frequency of nightmares among
congenitally blind individuals.
Biography:
Shabbir Saifuddin received post-graduate degree in Ophthalmology in 1987 from Mangalore University in India and has undergone clinical trainings at London MOORFIELDS Eye Hospital) and Munich (University Eye Hospital) and has 35 years of experience as an Ophthalmologist. He has published over 30 papers in journals and at various regional and international conferences. He is presently undergoing training for the MCh Ophthalmology degree.
E-mail: tasmooon@gamil.com
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