I’ve always heard that many people dream in black and white. Is there any documentation of this occurring before the advent of photography? It would seem that the concept of imagery reproduced in tones of black and white would be inconceivable to people who had never seen a black and white photo or film (detailed line drawings and etchings notwithstanding). That being the case, it would follow that dreaming in black and white would be a modern phenomenon, with the mind using the familiar black and white device for some (supposedly) meaningful purpose. Any ideas?
Black-and-white vision is not so unusual. In low light only the rod cells work, and color vision is impossible. The three types of cone cells (color vision) work only in relatively bright light.
huh… and I thought it was because people were more artistic in their dreams.
Dream de noir
hmm
i never can tell if its black and white or not…
i wonder how you do that?
I dreamed in B&W once.
Here is what happened:
“My” character in the dream was remembering a terribly traumatic auto accident that had happend years ago (just in the dream–nothing like it IRL).
The character (I) had a flashback to the time of the accident, just as you would see in a TV show or a movie.
When the scene in the dream cut to the flashback–it was in B&W, also just as sometimes happens in TV and movies.