Browsing by Author "Boyes, Arielle"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Non-gaming computer use relationship to type of dream
    (2014) Gackenbach, Jayne; Boyes, Arielle
    A new waking influence has emerged that is becoming so widely experienced that it bears further consideration in its own right as to it’s influence on subsequent night time dreams. That is, digital life. It ranges from listening to music to texting to checking facebook status to playing video games to information checking. All of these activities are computer mediated. In this inquiry, students at a western Canadian university indicated if they had played computer games or used the computer for non-gaming purposes during the day prior to a recent dream they reported. Respondents indicated their confidence about the type of dream they reported as well their video game play habits and generic media used the day prior to the dream. There was some indication that the high end non-gaming computer use group had more lucid (females only) and control dreams but less bizarre dreams. Unlike previous research there were no differences in nightmares or bad dreams among groups. This was discussed in terms of previous video game play and dreams research.
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    Reality: waking, sleeping and virtual
    (2015) Gackenbach, Jayne; Stark, Hannah; Boyes, Arielle; Flockhart, Carson
    This edited volume shows the relationship between dream research and its usefulness in treating patients. Milton Kramer and Myron Glucksman show that there is support for searching for the meaning of dream as experiences extended in time. Dreaming reflects psychological changes and is actually an orderly process, not a random experience. Several chapters in this book explore interviewing methodologies that will help clients reduce the frequency of their nightmares and thus contribute to successful therapy.
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    Social media versus gaming associations with typical and recent dreams
    (2014) Gackenbach, Jayne; Boyes, Arielle
    Cirucci (2013a) hypothesized that video game players would display similarities to social media users and that this relationship should be examined. This inquiry compared university students who varied in the degree to which they use social media (SMU) and play video games (VGP) on several dream indices and one personality inventory. Dreams have been shown to be continuous with waking mentation (Schredl, 2003) and to regulate negative emotions (Levin & Nielsen, 2009). Thus, they may offer a relatively unobstrusive measure of reactions to media use. While there were meaningful differences between the four groups (high VGP/high SMU; high VGP/low SMU; low VGP/high SMU; low VGP/low SMU), most analysis resulted in no differences in dreams. Differences seemed to support the nightmare protection thesis of video game play such that high end gamers, no matter the degree of social media use, suffered less from these negative types of dreams. Additionally, the high VGP/high SMU group had the thinnest psychological boundaries and thus were perhaps most susceptible to media effects. While at the same time this group of high end media users showed the least negative self concepts in their recent dream content. This was reflected in their typical dream reports as well.
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    The impact of digital technology on children’s dreams
    (2016) Gackenbach, Jayne; Boyes, Arielle; Sinyard, Ann; Flockhart, Carson; Snyder, Caterina
    Children can feel powerless in waking life, a fact that is often reflected in their dreams. This book shows how to take an active role in guiding children's dreams to help grow their confidence and improve their coping skills for real-life difficulties. Contributors from across various fields provide simple techniques to help children utilize dreamwork as a conduit for creative discovery and empowerment.
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    Video game play as nightmare protection: a replication and extension
    (2013) Gackenbach, Jayne; Darlington, Mycah; Ferguson, Mary-Lynn; Boyes, Arielle
    This inquiry is a replication and extension of a recent study with military gamers examining the thesis that the play of video games might act as a type of nightmare protection. This hypothesis is based on the idea of a well-rehearsed defense due to game play, a numbing against violence and the idea that memories in the six hours post trauma are best interrupted with a visual cognitive task, like video game play. This replication was done on university students who had experienced a trauma in the past and reported a dream associated with that trauma along with a recent dream. Controls were emotional reactivity and trauma history. We conclude that male high-end gamers seemed to be less troubled by nightmares while female high-end gamers were the most troubled by nightmares. So what is different between these two types of gamers? Three suggestions are considered, game genre, game sociability, and sex role conflict. It seems that the nightmare protection hypothesis of video game play should be qualified to apply to male high end gamers who play few casual games, play socially, and do not seem to experience sex role conflict due to type of game play.