Do you have lucid dreams? How does your aphantasia affect them?

I would describe my aphantasia as extreme. (I scored a 16 on the "Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire".) I describe it as trying to look through a black glass wall. I know something is there and could even draw its outline, but I see nothing except black.

My dreams are generally all black as well (but not always). If I'm drowsy, I can sometimes paint colors on the black. Just broad strokes though, not even as good as a child's finger painting. Dark colors are easiest, but I can sometimes get yellow or white (only twice). Also, I can easily swirl the colors, but only around the center of my mental field of view.

I occasionally (rarely) have lucid dreams. I've been experimenting, and I can sometimes punch holes in the wall of black glass. Recently, I was able to generate a complete lifelike scene in “full high res” and hold onto it for nearly a second (in subjective time).

It seems like my aphantasia level might be modified with practice.

Do you have lucid dreams and if so, what do you experience?

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RuoQing Zhao•recently

Lately, I've been really pondering how to use lucid dreams to make up for those imaginative experiences I'm totally missing out on. Heck, I even gave it a shot just this afternoon. If I wanna turn it into a real lucid dream instead of some fuzzy, colorless regular one, I gotta focus hard like you said to actually bring in some colors.

Neal White•recently•edited

Do you find that some colors are harder to "bring in"? As I mentioned above, very dark blues, greens, and purples are easiest for me. Lighter colors like yellow are much harder, and white is extremely difficult.