II. _Internal (Subjective) Sensory Stimuli._—Notwithstanding all
objections to the contrary, we must admit that the rôle of the objective
sensory stimuli as a producer of dreams has been indisputably
established, and if these stimuli seem perhaps insufficient in their
nature and frequency to explain all dream pictures, we are then directed
to look for other dream sources acting in an analogous manner. I do not
know where the idea originated that along with the outer sensory stimuli
the inner (subjective) stimuli should also be considered, but as a
matter of fact this is done more or less fully in all the more recent
descriptions of the etiology of dreams. “An important part is played in
dream illusions,” says Wundt[36] (p. 363), “by those subjective
sensations of seeing and hearing which are familiar to us in the waking
state as a luminous chaos in the dark field of vision, ringing, buzzing,
&c., of the ears, and especially irritation of the retina. This explains
the remarkable tendency of the dream to delude the eyes with numbers of
similar or identical objects. Thus we see spread before our eyes
numberless birds, butterflies, fishes, coloured beads, flowers, &c. Here
the luminous dust in the dark field of vision has taken on phantastic
figures, and the many luminous points of which it consists are embodied
by the dream in as many single pictures, which are looked upon as moving
objects owing to the mobility of the luminous chaos. This is also the
root of the great fondness of the dream for the most complex animal
figures, the multiplicity of forms readily following the form of the
subjective light pictures.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account