Understanding Reality: What Hallucinations Reveal
October 3, 2018 8:58 AM Subscribe
Hallucinations Are Everywhere: Experiences like hearing voices are leading psychologists to question how all people perceive reality.
I've noticed that as I grow older I've had an increasing tendency to hear what sounds like people speaking **JUST** too softly to make out the words in white noise from fans and whatnot. It doesn't happen super often, but a couple times a week I'll hear what sounds like a conversation that I can't quite make out in fan noise.
posted by sotonohito at 9:24 AM on October 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 9:24 AM on October 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
I've always wondered how many stories of hauntings, or hearing the voice of the gods or spirits or what have you, was the result of hallucinations.
posted by sotonohito at 9:36 AM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 9:36 AM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I've always wondered how many stories of hauntings, or hearing the voice of the gods or spirits or what have you, was the result of hallucinations.
Related post (the linked article is mentioned in the Atlantic piece): Consciousness Began When the Gods Stopped Speaking
posted by homunculus at 9:44 AM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Related post (the linked article is mentioned in the Atlantic piece): Consciousness Began When the Gods Stopped Speaking
posted by homunculus at 9:44 AM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've always wondered how many stories of hauntings, or hearing the voice of the gods or spirits or what have you, was the result of hallucinations.
As opposed to ... what?
posted by dmd at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
How will they distinguish hallucinations and hearing voices from the every increasing intrusion of what BCIs can achieve these days?
posted by infini at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by infini at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
How will they distinguish hallucinations and hearing voices from the every increasing intrusion of what BCIs can achieve these days?
Boa Constrictor Imperators?
posted by homunculus at 9:50 AM on October 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Boa Constrictor Imperators?
posted by homunculus at 9:50 AM on October 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Something like this happens to us with shitty hearing. It is as if your brain is trying its hardest to make sense of difficult to hear sounds and insists you are hearing conversations that aren't being had, voices that actually aren't angry, etc. It gets worse during stress and drinking.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:53 AM on October 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:53 AM on October 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
I've always wondered how many stories of hauntings, or hearing the voice of the gods or spirits or what have you, was the result of hallucinations.
As opposed to what?
I didn't post the original comment you were responding to, but for me, it would be: as opposed to things people hadn't experienced but told to others to scare, educate (eg parables) or entertain them.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:19 AM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
As opposed to what?
I didn't post the original comment you were responding to, but for me, it would be: as opposed to things people hadn't experienced but told to others to scare, educate (eg parables) or entertain them.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:19 AM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
That is, someone who hallucinates actually believes they've experienced something, while the mere prankster or storyteller does not.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:22 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:22 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
That is, someone who hallucinates actually believes they've experienced something, while the mere prankster or storyteller does not.
Why not both? Hail Glycon!
posted by homunculus at 10:34 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Why not both? Hail Glycon!
posted by homunculus at 10:34 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I, myself, am a hallucination. When I figure out whose, I assume the snake will eat its own tail.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:41 AM on October 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:41 AM on October 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Just the other day I hallucinated someone in white coming down the stairs at home, three different times, while I was in the kitchen. And I've heard the mumbled conversations and whispering stuff and the vibrating cellphone thing quite frequently.
I would not categorize that sort of thing with religious experiences I've had, which were a lot less sensory. This metaphor isn't perfect, but it's like the difference between hearing a voice (when there is no voice) vs. having just read dialog from a page (when there's no page).
[And I hope it doesn't need to be said, but please can we keep this to hallucinations and not go off on a tangent of bashing religion and making people feel unwelcome.]
posted by Foosnark at 10:49 AM on October 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I would not categorize that sort of thing with religious experiences I've had, which were a lot less sensory. This metaphor isn't perfect, but it's like the difference between hearing a voice (when there is no voice) vs. having just read dialog from a page (when there's no page).
[And I hope it doesn't need to be said, but please can we keep this to hallucinations and not go off on a tangent of bashing religion and making people feel unwelcome.]
posted by Foosnark at 10:49 AM on October 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
It is as if your brain is trying its hardest to make sense of difficult to hear sounds and insists you are hearing conversations that aren't being had, voices that actually aren't angry, etc.
The human brain—and probably some higher animals' brains, based on casual observation—is very good at trying to find patterns in large amounts of noisy signal. It's so good at, and tuned for, this task that it will find false patterns in entirely random inputs.
White noise from fans can sound like distant voices; repetitive noises can sound like muffled but familiar music; smudges of smoke can look like faces... I've never personally experienced an olfactory or taste hallucination, but doubtless they exist as well.
A lot of hallucinogenic drugs seem to work by turning up the "gain" of the pattern-finding circuits in the brain. The closed-eye visual hallucinations you sometimes get on various (prescription and nonprescription) drugs seem to be related to imposing order on the random signals being sent from the retinas, so they appear like kaleidoscopic or lace-doily patterns (YMMV, of course).
In the last few years we've seen somewhat analogous stuff come out of AI research. If you take a trained neural net and feed it random data, but turn the parameters up appropriately, it'll start finding patterns in the data that match its training set, even though they're not really present in the inputs. Interestingly, in some cases you can use this to back out characteristics of the training data, which is analogous to working backwards from hallucinations to understand the underlying neuroanatomy (or at least psychology) of the brain.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:56 AM on October 3, 2018 [14 favorites]
The human brain—and probably some higher animals' brains, based on casual observation—is very good at trying to find patterns in large amounts of noisy signal. It's so good at, and tuned for, this task that it will find false patterns in entirely random inputs.
White noise from fans can sound like distant voices; repetitive noises can sound like muffled but familiar music; smudges of smoke can look like faces... I've never personally experienced an olfactory or taste hallucination, but doubtless they exist as well.
A lot of hallucinogenic drugs seem to work by turning up the "gain" of the pattern-finding circuits in the brain. The closed-eye visual hallucinations you sometimes get on various (prescription and nonprescription) drugs seem to be related to imposing order on the random signals being sent from the retinas, so they appear like kaleidoscopic or lace-doily patterns (YMMV, of course).
In the last few years we've seen somewhat analogous stuff come out of AI research. If you take a trained neural net and feed it random data, but turn the parameters up appropriately, it'll start finding patterns in the data that match its training set, even though they're not really present in the inputs. Interestingly, in some cases you can use this to back out characteristics of the training data, which is analogous to working backwards from hallucinations to understand the underlying neuroanatomy (or at least psychology) of the brain.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:56 AM on October 3, 2018 [14 favorites]
Last week I was having problems sleeping and about the third night of sleeplessness my tinnitus and sleep deprivation combined to create a hallucination of this amazing, complex symphony in my head. I mean, I would have rather had some sleep, but the experience was interesting at least.
posted by elsietheeel at 11:07 AM on October 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by elsietheeel at 11:07 AM on October 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
AI research and hallucinations, the deep dream frog.
posted by Dr. Curare at 11:42 AM on October 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Dr. Curare at 11:42 AM on October 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
I've noticed that as I grow older I've had an increasing tendency to hear what sounds like people speaking **JUST** too softly to make out the words in white noise from fans and whatnot.
posted by sotonohito
I hear this often. If my mood is enhanced, it will switch to hearing nonexistent powerpop songs, complete with chorus and bridge. I quite enjoy it.
posted by sydnius at 11:52 AM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by sotonohito
I hear this often. If my mood is enhanced, it will switch to hearing nonexistent powerpop songs, complete with chorus and bridge. I quite enjoy it.
posted by sydnius at 11:52 AM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I, myself, am a hallucination. When I figure out whose, I assume the snake will eat its own tail.
If I ever find the guy hallucinating me I'm gonna punch him right in his stupid nose.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:54 AM on October 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
If I ever find the guy hallucinating me I'm gonna punch him right in his stupid nose.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:54 AM on October 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
I hear music from the time I wake up till the day is done - whatever I've been into lately (not original stuff). I can change the particular tune only with some effort.
I had thought this was universal til I asked around at my little meditation group (I hear the music even during fairly deep concentratedness). Nope, not everyone hears music during the entirety of their waking hours.
My condition goes way beyond ear worms, but I know that the phenomenon of ear worms is universal - is this not considered a hallucination? Why not? I certainly hear the music.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 11:58 AM on October 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
I had thought this was universal til I asked around at my little meditation group (I hear the music even during fairly deep concentratedness). Nope, not everyone hears music during the entirety of their waking hours.
My condition goes way beyond ear worms, but I know that the phenomenon of ear worms is universal - is this not considered a hallucination? Why not? I certainly hear the music.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 11:58 AM on October 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
For me, an ear worm is more habitually imagining music rather than literally hearing it. Like how I can picture something in my mind in a way that is distinct from hallucinating.
posted by RobotHero at 12:08 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by RobotHero at 12:08 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Interesting: for me, it is nearly indistinguishable from playing the song on my PC. I can't visualize things nearly as well.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 12:09 PM on October 3, 2018
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 12:09 PM on October 3, 2018
> I've noticed that as I grow older I've had an increasing tendency to hear what sounds like people speaking **JUST** too softly to make out the words in white noise from fans and whatnot.
Ah, yes, sometimes the vat adjusters have conversations while they work.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 12:33 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Ah, yes, sometimes the vat adjusters have conversations while they work.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 12:33 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
I heard that thing in the article that was supposed to sound like a whistle like a voice at first hearing. And yes, I hear music all the time, always. I mostly like it, but I sometimes feel it tires me out. I almost never listen to music radio because I want to curate my earworms a bit.
Just today I was talking with students about visualizations. I'm kind of proud that I can see spaces in my head just from reading projection drawings (plans and sections), but I have no idea wether it is something I was born with, or something I've trained. I guess it's like with music: do you have perfect pitch because you have always loved music and trained, or did you always train and love music because you were born with perfect pitch?
It was a joke between my granddad and myself that my gran haunted our house while she was still alive. We could both hear her walking around and humming to herself when she wasn't there. The thing is, my granddad and I weren't superstitious, but gran was. Go figure.
posted by mumimor at 12:36 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Just today I was talking with students about visualizations. I'm kind of proud that I can see spaces in my head just from reading projection drawings (plans and sections), but I have no idea wether it is something I was born with, or something I've trained. I guess it's like with music: do you have perfect pitch because you have always loved music and trained, or did you always train and love music because you were born with perfect pitch?
It was a joke between my granddad and myself that my gran haunted our house while she was still alive. We could both hear her walking around and humming to herself when she wasn't there. The thing is, my granddad and I weren't superstitious, but gran was. Go figure.
posted by mumimor at 12:36 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I had thought this was universal til I asked around at my little meditation group (I hear the music even during fairly deep concentratedness).
I made the mistake of going on a retreat shortly after finally beating Mario 64. TEN DAYS OF RAINBOW RIDE PLAYING IN MY HEAD NONSTOP. Truly, the mind is a terrible thing.
posted by homunculus at 12:49 PM on October 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
I made the mistake of going on a retreat shortly after finally beating Mario 64. TEN DAYS OF RAINBOW RIDE PLAYING IN MY HEAD NONSTOP. Truly, the mind is a terrible thing.
posted by homunculus at 12:49 PM on October 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
Oh yeah - I heard the voice first time too.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 12:51 PM on October 3, 2018
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 12:51 PM on October 3, 2018
Lying down next to a window fan on a hot summer night, I hear glorious classical music, heavy on the violins. If only I could write that stuff down!
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 12:55 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 12:55 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Interesting: for me, it is nearly indistinguishable from playing the song on my PC. I can't visualize things nearly as well.
I'm not alone! I can hear very lifelike music (and do most of the time) that sounds the same as if I'm listening to it live or on a device. I can't picture things in my head very well at all. When I think about something tangible all I can 'picture' is abstract info about it.
I wonder if most people hallucinate roughly the same, but for people who don't picture things in their heads as well it's a different experience. When I see someone or something that isn't there, especially if they speak or move much, it's very jarring and maybe I'm remembering it more because it's not as normal for me to imagine things so clearly?
The first audio clip was clear for me too and didn't sound different after listening to the second one.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 12:57 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm not alone! I can hear very lifelike music (and do most of the time) that sounds the same as if I'm listening to it live or on a device. I can't picture things in my head very well at all. When I think about something tangible all I can 'picture' is abstract info about it.
I wonder if most people hallucinate roughly the same, but for people who don't picture things in their heads as well it's a different experience. When I see someone or something that isn't there, especially if they speak or move much, it's very jarring and maybe I'm remembering it more because it's not as normal for me to imagine things so clearly?
The first audio clip was clear for me too and didn't sound different after listening to the second one.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 12:57 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
AI research and hallucinations, the deep dream frog.
posted by Dr. Curare at 11:42 AM on October 3 [+] [!]
What the fuck is that?!?
posted by bq at 1:04 PM on October 3, 2018
posted by Dr. Curare at 11:42 AM on October 3 [+] [!]
What the fuck is that?!?
posted by bq at 1:04 PM on October 3, 2018
I've been through a period with severe anxiety and I was medicated for 10 months to get it under control. During that period my dreams went wild. It's a known side effect, so I was prepared, but man...
You can dream things that are so life-like that you have no idea wether they happened or not, and you have to ask the people in the dream wether they were there. Not recommended. I am grateful for what the medication gave me, but that side-effect was harsh and in itself limiting.
And yes, when I hear music, or see spaces, it's like hearing a (kind of bad) recording, or seeing something through a mist. Not 100% like being there, but close enough that I can reproduce it faithfully with a little work.
posted by mumimor at 1:04 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
You can dream things that are so life-like that you have no idea wether they happened or not, and you have to ask the people in the dream wether they were there. Not recommended. I am grateful for what the medication gave me, but that side-effect was harsh and in itself limiting.
And yes, when I hear music, or see spaces, it's like hearing a (kind of bad) recording, or seeing something through a mist. Not 100% like being there, but close enough that I can reproduce it faithfully with a little work.
posted by mumimor at 1:04 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have a very, very good musical memory. When I have a song in my head, I usually hear it fully and clearly. I can often recreate every part individually, and I've done it before, remaking a song track-by-track without having heard it in years (I recently recreated a song almost in its entirety because I couldn't remember what it was called and I wanted to play it for someone).
Obviously, as a musician, I'm proud of this, but it can be pretty intense. There have been times that I heard a song so vividly I literally could not tell whether it was playing somewhere, or if I was just thinking about it. There have been times that I heard music and didn't realize at first that I was "playing" it in my head. Frequently, when I'm really stressed out, I'll want the song to stop and it just keeps playing.
I think it's less intense than it used to be. It was at its peak, I think, when I was in music school and thinking about music constantly.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:09 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Obviously, as a musician, I'm proud of this, but it can be pretty intense. There have been times that I heard a song so vividly I literally could not tell whether it was playing somewhere, or if I was just thinking about it. There have been times that I heard music and didn't realize at first that I was "playing" it in my head. Frequently, when I'm really stressed out, I'll want the song to stop and it just keeps playing.
I think it's less intense than it used to be. It was at its peak, I think, when I was in music school and thinking about music constantly.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:09 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
I love cooking and eating, but I almost never have these experiences with smell or taste. Do the food people of Metafilter have that?
posted by mumimor at 1:20 PM on October 3, 2018
posted by mumimor at 1:20 PM on October 3, 2018
Oh man, you blew my mind. I can remember what things taste like, but I don't think it's the same as actually being able to taste it. Whereas with auditory and visual stuff, I am literally hearing/seeing it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:25 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:25 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Re smell and taste, even in dreams I can dream I'm getting a book or a letter or preparing a meal or holding one even, but I've never ever dreamt the act of reading or of eating. Maybe that's too concrete a thing, too external, for your mind to reconstruct.
Also, not dreaming, sometimes I hear people calling me. I wonder who they are
posted by glasseyes at 1:38 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also, not dreaming, sometimes I hear people calling me. I wonder who they are
posted by glasseyes at 1:38 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
> There have been times that I heard a song so vividly I literally could not tell whether it was playing somewhere, or if I was just thinking about it.
I was meditating once and just couldn't shake the Boards of Canada tune going on in my head...turns out it was playing externally, on the stereo speakers, but the volume was low instead of muted as I had thought.
Something like this happens to us with shitty hearing
I had a friend who went blind during the course of a couple of years: she began to hallucinate people on a regular basis. Perhaps the mind just wants SOMETHING to look at or hear, and just throws stuff up there if it's not getting anything from the world.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 1:48 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was meditating once and just couldn't shake the Boards of Canada tune going on in my head...turns out it was playing externally, on the stereo speakers, but the volume was low instead of muted as I had thought.
Something like this happens to us with shitty hearing
I had a friend who went blind during the course of a couple of years: she began to hallucinate people on a regular basis. Perhaps the mind just wants SOMETHING to look at or hear, and just throws stuff up there if it's not getting anything from the world.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 1:48 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Something like this happens to us with shitty hearing
I have shitting hearing, and hear voices much of the time. Usually when I'm falling asleep, but also if I'm tired or particularly stressed. I was 30 before I found out that other people didn't hear them.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:59 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have shitting hearing, and hear voices much of the time. Usually when I'm falling asleep, but also if I'm tired or particularly stressed. I was 30 before I found out that other people didn't hear them.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:59 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I occasionally experience hypnagogia and hypnopompia, more vividly when I was a child (to the extent that I believed for some years that what I had dreamed or hallucinated had actually occurred), but still occasionally as an adult when I'm feverish or otherwise sleeping lightly if at all. One of the more interesting manifestations of it is when I'm drifting off as I'm reading, and I "read" text that simply isn't there; there's no break of consciousness, but when I snap back fully awake, suddenly there's something quite different on the page (or screen).
And earworms? All the time, and often quite different from the actual song.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:07 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
And earworms? All the time, and often quite different from the actual song.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:07 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
A neuroscientist explains why reality may just be a hallucination
posted by homunculus at 2:09 PM on October 3, 2018
posted by homunculus at 2:09 PM on October 3, 2018
my preferred model for approaching the question of the hallucinatory v. nonhallucinatory nature of reality is the old kantian phenomenon/noumenon distinction, with phenomena understood as things as they present themselves to us and noumena as things as they actually are in themselves. the trick is that by definition we can never know anything about noumenal reality, since all we have available is reality as it presents itself to us.
This means, as I understand it, that the question of the hallucinatory/nonhallucinatory nature of reality becomes moot, and is replaced by the question of which phenomenal experiences appear to be also experienced by other persons. The ones that we experience and that other people appear to experience as well are intersubjectively real. The other ones are not necessarily real or fake, but instead are merely private.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:25 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
This means, as I understand it, that the question of the hallucinatory/nonhallucinatory nature of reality becomes moot, and is replaced by the question of which phenomenal experiences appear to be also experienced by other persons. The ones that we experience and that other people appear to experience as well are intersubjectively real. The other ones are not necessarily real or fake, but instead are merely private.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:25 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you like this kind of stuff, I can' t recommend Oliver Sacks' book Hallucinations highly enough.
posted by gingerbeer at 2:53 PM on October 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 2:53 PM on October 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
>AI research and hallucinations, the deep dream frog.
posted by Dr. Curare at 11:42 AM on October 3 [+] [!]
What the fuck is that?!?
I believe it is the image of a frog run through Google's Deep Dream software
posted by nubs at 2:58 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Curare at 11:42 AM on October 3 [+] [!]
What the fuck is that?!?
I believe it is the image of a frog run through Google's Deep Dream software
posted by nubs at 2:58 PM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Last week I was having problems sleeping and about the third night of sleeplessness my tinnitus and sleep deprivation combined to create a hallucination of this amazing, complex symphony in my head. I mean, I would have rather had some sleep, but the experience was interesting at least.
Something similar has happened to me! I don't have very pronounced tinnitus but when I wear ear plugs, I can definitely hear a high pitched sound. When I'm in a semi-lucid or hypnagogic state, and wearing earplugs, sometimes this sound turns into the most elaborate, celestial, beautiful music I've ever heard. In fact, I've been wanting to get back into making electronic music so I can try to externalize that music to whatever small degree my limited artistic skills would allow.
posted by treepour at 3:26 PM on October 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
It is as if your brain is trying its hardest to make sense of difficult to hear sounds and insists you are hearing conversations that aren't being had, voices that actually aren't angry, etc.
Isn't this called pareidolia? I thought it was just a visual phenomenon but it seems to encompass the auditory realm as well.
posted by zardoz at 4:16 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Isn't this called pareidolia? I thought it was just a visual phenomenon but it seems to encompass the auditory realm as well.
posted by zardoz at 4:16 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have auditory and visual hallucinations, small though they may be, on a daily (or near enough to make no difference) basis. I'm pretty normal, though maybe on the spectrum according to clinical psychologist DrMsEld. Thankfully, and I'm paraphrasing her here, I've also learned that a fairly fundamental part of any clinical mental diagnosis per the DSM is that said attributes pose a detrimental impact on a person's quality of life. Mine don't, though it is odd to see a flash of movement or hear a noise that probably isn't there, so... all good I guess.
Wishing you hallucinations that are benign as well.
Yours in tactile sensation,
RoE
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:17 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Wishing you hallucinations that are benign as well.
Yours in tactile sensation,
RoE
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:17 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I’m hallucinatorily promiscuous. That is, I over-imagine easily. The sine-wave/vocoder sound dealie? I heard speech immediately!
Most common false readings of reality I experience...
-Who is saying my name?
-Is there a song in the fan?
-Flashing police lights in my peripheral vision — wee-ooo, wee-ooo!
-The flickering of fire.
-Concentic circles in any random array of multiple things — grass, pebbles, crowds.
-Grains of dust or specks of dirt who wiggle like insects.
-Textures that slowly breathe or ooze.
I am not destructively crazy. I have monetized my brain’s zeal and work in a creative industry.
posted by Construction Concern at 4:18 PM on October 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Most common false readings of reality I experience...
-Who is saying my name?
-Is there a song in the fan?
-Flashing police lights in my peripheral vision — wee-ooo, wee-ooo!
-The flickering of fire.
-Concentic circles in any random array of multiple things — grass, pebbles, crowds.
-Grains of dust or specks of dirt who wiggle like insects.
-Textures that slowly breathe or ooze.
I am not destructively crazy. I have monetized my brain’s zeal and work in a creative industry.
posted by Construction Concern at 4:18 PM on October 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
A few years ago, I woke up from a dream one morning, it was a nightmare really, but the dream just kept going -- complete with video-like visuals, sound effects, and conversation, all superimposed on what I was actually seeing and hearing.
For the first few minutes in my morning-dark bedroom, I was terrified that this was how my life was going to be from now on, but when I went into the bathroom I realized that the dream wasn't nearly as bright or loud as reality, though I could still see and hear it quite distinctly, and then it began to fade away.
The last of it guttered out when I was making coffee for my partner and me about fifteen minutes after I woke up. Over the next couple of months I had two more similar incidents of much shorter duration.
When I finally learned to read more than a year after anyone else in my cohort, I didn't know it at first because I was going over a comic book at the time and heard a voice saying words to me. I thought the radio must be on but it wasn't, then when I came back to the comic book it started happening again, but it still came as a big shock to me to think that the voice might be saying words on the page, and it was a while before the voice became my voice.
posted by jamjam at 4:20 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
For the first few minutes in my morning-dark bedroom, I was terrified that this was how my life was going to be from now on, but when I went into the bathroom I realized that the dream wasn't nearly as bright or loud as reality, though I could still see and hear it quite distinctly, and then it began to fade away.
The last of it guttered out when I was making coffee for my partner and me about fifteen minutes after I woke up. Over the next couple of months I had two more similar incidents of much shorter duration.
When I finally learned to read more than a year after anyone else in my cohort, I didn't know it at first because I was going over a comic book at the time and heard a voice saying words to me. I thought the radio must be on but it wasn't, then when I came back to the comic book it started happening again, but it still came as a big shock to me to think that the voice might be saying words on the page, and it was a while before the voice became my voice.
posted by jamjam at 4:20 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is really relevant to me because my father has auditory hallucinations and has had for many years, well before he had diagnosable dementia. The kind of hallucinations have varied. When he was living alone, he used to hear people talking about him or singing songs about him, and he thought they were real. Now he’s in care, he hears different people talking to him depending on who is in the room. When I’m there he often hears a little girl talking, who I suspect is an echo of me as a child; when my mother’s there he hears other men in the room. When nobody's there he can be heard conversing with them. He now knows the voices are in his head and the rest of us can’t hear them, but he still converses with them and sometimes tells us what they’re saying.
My mother always complains when the voices start up, believing it means there is something wrong in his medication or the level of care he’s getting, but I’m not so sure; the voices have been around a long time and I think at this stage they are more comfort and company than a cause for concern. What I have found is that the nature of the conversation he has with them varies depending on how unwell he is. I can tell when he's dehydrated or has a UTI or something, because the conversation is aggressive and he takes on a jeering tone.
posted by andraste at 4:20 PM on October 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
My mother always complains when the voices start up, believing it means there is something wrong in his medication or the level of care he’s getting, but I’m not so sure; the voices have been around a long time and I think at this stage they are more comfort and company than a cause for concern. What I have found is that the nature of the conversation he has with them varies depending on how unwell he is. I can tell when he's dehydrated or has a UTI or something, because the conversation is aggressive and he takes on a jeering tone.
posted by andraste at 4:20 PM on October 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
My grandmother hallucinated as a product of her dementia, too. She once saw a Japanese man sitting across the table from her (she was in Japan with the USO in her youth). He just sat there, and she tried to talk to him, but he didn't answer. My dad asked her if it was scary, and she said it wasn't; she knew it was a hallucination, but she still saw him clearly. She was always super smart, and she said it was a "very interesting" experience.
I went through a period where I kept hearing everyone say my name. Like, random people on the street, everyone. I actually think it was a product of minor hearing loss. I have a hard time understanding speech if I can't see the person's mouth, and I think that, coupled with a change in my hearing, probably led my brain to fill in gaps with the next best estimation. That, or my history of mental illness is worse than I thought.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 5:15 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I went through a period where I kept hearing everyone say my name. Like, random people on the street, everyone. I actually think it was a product of minor hearing loss. I have a hard time understanding speech if I can't see the person's mouth, and I think that, coupled with a change in my hearing, probably led my brain to fill in gaps with the next best estimation. That, or my history of mental illness is worse than I thought.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 5:15 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Deep dream frog is how I feel inside all the time, Rick.
posted by The otter lady at 6:38 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 6:38 PM on October 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Kadin2048 I've never personally experienced an olfactory or taste hallucination, but doubtless they exist as well.
I'm not sure if it's quite a hallucination, but I think we've all probably had the highly unpleasant experience of thinking you're about to taste one thing, but accidentally tasting something very different, and having a grossed out reaction. I vividly recall a morning I had poured myself a glass of orange juice, was thinking about how refreshing it'd be, and then grabbing my brother's milk by accident and almost vomiting at the conflict between what I'd been expecting vs. what I actually tasted.
Is that even in the same family of experience as hallucination? It seems at least vaguely related.
posted by sotonohito at 6:59 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure if it's quite a hallucination, but I think we've all probably had the highly unpleasant experience of thinking you're about to taste one thing, but accidentally tasting something very different, and having a grossed out reaction. I vividly recall a morning I had poured myself a glass of orange juice, was thinking about how refreshing it'd be, and then grabbing my brother's milk by accident and almost vomiting at the conflict between what I'd been expecting vs. what I actually tasted.
Is that even in the same family of experience as hallucination? It seems at least vaguely related.
posted by sotonohito at 6:59 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Brains are so weird. Just this afternoon I hallucinated some guy punching me right in my stupid nose.
posted by dephlogisticated at 8:28 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by dephlogisticated at 8:28 PM on October 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
One of the more interesting manifestations of it is when I'm drifting off as I'm reading, and I "read" text that simply isn't there; there's no break of consciousness, but when I snap back fully awake, suddenly there's something quite different on the page (or screen).
"For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say "I'm going to sleep." And half an hour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to put away the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I had been thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between François I and Charles V. This impression would persist for some moments after I was awake; it did not disturb my mind, but it lay like scales upon my eyes and prevented them from registering the fact that the candle was no longer burning. Then it would begin to seem unintelligible, as the thoughts of a former existence must be to a reincarnate spirit; the subject of my book would separate itself from me, leaving me free to choose whether I would form part of it or no; and at the same time my sight would return and I would be astonished to find myself in a state of darkness, pleasant and restful enough for the eyes, and even more, perhaps, for my mind, to which it appeared incomprehensible, without a cause, a matter dark indeed."
posted by praemunire at 10:20 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
"For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say "I'm going to sleep." And half an hour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to put away the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I had been thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between François I and Charles V. This impression would persist for some moments after I was awake; it did not disturb my mind, but it lay like scales upon my eyes and prevented them from registering the fact that the candle was no longer burning. Then it would begin to seem unintelligible, as the thoughts of a former existence must be to a reincarnate spirit; the subject of my book would separate itself from me, leaving me free to choose whether I would form part of it or no; and at the same time my sight would return and I would be astonished to find myself in a state of darkness, pleasant and restful enough for the eyes, and even more, perhaps, for my mind, to which it appeared incomprehensible, without a cause, a matter dark indeed."
posted by praemunire at 10:20 PM on October 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
The sine-wave/vocoder sound dealie? I heard speech immediately!
Same for me, although I think it was somewhat due to skimming ahead and seeing the printed words in the article. There are several more examples here; I heard speech in all of them as well, but could only understand some of the words.
I also have a bit of tinnitus and will frequently hear music in fan noise.
posted by gennessee at 2:49 AM on October 4, 2018
Same for me, although I think it was somewhat due to skimming ahead and seeing the printed words in the article. There are several more examples here; I heard speech in all of them as well, but could only understand some of the words.
I also have a bit of tinnitus and will frequently hear music in fan noise.
posted by gennessee at 2:49 AM on October 4, 2018
Yesterday, I posted here just before going to sleep, and I don't know if that's the reason, but when I woke this morning, I woke from a dream where I was eating chopped raw salmon on smoked cream cheese (Rygeost). I could taste both subtle tastes very clearly, and the taste was still in my mouth in the first seconds after I woke.
So that even though that wasn't hallucinating, but dreaming, it still showed be that the brain can create tastes and smells.
posted by mumimor at 3:48 AM on October 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
So that even though that wasn't hallucinating, but dreaming, it still showed be that the brain can create tastes and smells.
posted by mumimor at 3:48 AM on October 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
As I read about all of these vivid hallucinations, I feel like I'm someone who can't see color reading about rainbows.
Also, I'm wondering how many of these hallucinators perhaps experimented with Lysergic acid diethylamide in their youthful years. Or later.
posted by mecran01 at 7:29 AM on October 4, 2018
Also, I'm wondering how many of these hallucinators perhaps experimented with Lysergic acid diethylamide in their youthful years. Or later.
posted by mecran01 at 7:29 AM on October 4, 2018
China’s Liang wins Ultra Gobi non-stop race as Hongkongers battle sleep deprivation, hypothermia and hallucination
Post-race, the runners compared hallucinations.posted by homunculus at 12:11 PM on October 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
“In the middle of the desert, a taxi pulled up next to me,” said Li Renli, who finished fourth. “The person inside the taxi asked me if I was taking part in a race. I said, ‘no, no, I am just out for a short training run’.”
Once, when, um, enhanced, almost all of the clouds looked like faces.
posted by sjswitzer at 3:14 PM on October 4, 2018
posted by sjswitzer at 3:14 PM on October 4, 2018
One of the more interesting manifestations of it is when I'm drifting off as I'm reading, and I "read" text that simply isn't there; there's no break of consciousness, but when I snap back fully awake, suddenly there's something quite different on the page (or screen).
Oh man, I do this. I usually wake up because I think "that doesn't make any sense!"
I "hear" music all day too, but not really, it's just imagination and not at all like actually hearing it. But it is very detailed. I also cannot really "picture" something in my mind and until not that long ago always assumed that was a figure of speech when people said that. I can "hear" something quite clearly in my mind, I can "see" practically nothing.
On the other hand I've often had very real auditory hallucinations when I'm falling asleep that wake me up. The very real sensation of someone talking in my ear or stomping across the floor, completely random things not tied to any dream. Often scares the shit out of me.
posted by bongo_x at 2:44 AM on October 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh man, I do this. I usually wake up because I think "that doesn't make any sense!"
I "hear" music all day too, but not really, it's just imagination and not at all like actually hearing it. But it is very detailed. I also cannot really "picture" something in my mind and until not that long ago always assumed that was a figure of speech when people said that. I can "hear" something quite clearly in my mind, I can "see" practically nothing.
On the other hand I've often had very real auditory hallucinations when I'm falling asleep that wake me up. The very real sensation of someone talking in my ear or stomping across the floor, completely random things not tied to any dream. Often scares the shit out of me.
posted by bongo_x at 2:44 AM on October 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ever since this scene a few days ago during the current BBC Who marathon, this song has been playing nonstop in my head. Could be worse.
posted by homunculus at 10:40 AM on October 7, 2018
posted by homunculus at 10:40 AM on October 7, 2018
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posted by bq at 9:06 AM on October 3, 2018 [1 favorite]