Describing and modeling hypnagogic imagery using a systematic self-observation procedure

The published literature suggests that systematic self-observation may be a suitable method for clarifying the nature and correlates of hypnagogic imagery and thus a useful adjunct to psychophysiological and cognitive studies of sleep onset. The potential applicability of one recently proposed self-observation procedure (Nielsen, 1992) to such studies is demonstrated in the present work. The procedure permits numerous hypnagogic images to be collected during spontaneous drowsy periods occurring during the day. The observer sits in an upright, head-unsupported position, fixes an observational intent, and pays attention to internal events; images are observed, transcribed and then assessed for their likely memory sources. The procedure has been pilot-tested by the author in four exploratory studies comprising over 250 hypnagogic images. Neuromuscular events accompanying these images (e.g., head nods, leg jerks) and EEG correlates of the images are described. Certain distinctions among imagery types are suggested, e.g., fleeting vs. fully-formed, images with self movement vs. images with non-self movement. Silberer's conclusions regarding the 'autosymbolic' function of hypnagogic images are supported by the results. Four types of memory element (immediate, short-, mediumand long-term) appear to have contributed causally to the formation of these hypnagogic images and are illustrated. To demonstrate how the self-observational method may be used to model the formation of hypnagogic imagery from such memory sources, a single sample image and its multiple memory sources are described and analyzed in detail

Cognitive psychology · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Psychology · Sleep and related disorders · Sleep and Wakefulness Research

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