Optimizing cognitive coherence

Optimizing cognitive coherence in Psychecology games

OPTIMIZING COGNITIVE COHERENCE, LEARNING, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALING WITH DRAMA-BASED VIDEO GAMES

Stephen Brock Schafer Digipen Institute of Technology

Author Note

© 2011 Stephen Schafer. All rights reserved. Notice: This manuscript review copy sent to Jayne Gackenbach. It is intended for private use only. Correspondence concerning this chapter should be addressed to Stephen Schafer, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Digipen Institute of Technology, Redmond, WA 98052. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

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Abstract The objective of Jungian dream analysis is the maintenance of a degree of harmony or synchronization between conscious and unconscious psychological states. Jung calls it “compensation” which is both a process and a state of being that appears to accord with degrees of meaningful insight, Maslow‟s Peak Experience, the Flow experience, and other “transcendent” states. The archetypal Journey of the Hero is the template with which degrees of learning or healing may be measured. As a programming dynamic in drama-based video games (DBG), the dramatic structure of the “Journey” has metaphorical proportionality that allows for navigation and calibration of conscious-unconscious psychological domains. As a recursive matrix of Jungian dramatic-metaphorical amplifications, neurobiological patterns of compensation may be traced and correlated with patterns of coherence. “Coherence” appears to be essentially the same as compensation. Coherence may be understood as optimal harmony or synchronization between different oscillating systems operating at the same frequency so they can become frequency-locked, as occurs between the photons in a laser. “In physiology, cross-coherence occurs when one or more of the body‟s oscillatory systems, such as respiration and heart rhythms, become entrained and operate at the same frequency.” (McCraty & Childre, p. 11) Coherence is measured as alpha waves or with reference to the stability of frequency, amplitude, and shape of sine wave-like oscillations that appear in electrocardiographs (ECG), electroencephalographs (EEG), and other biofeedback technologies. Coherent states result in integration, stress reduction and resilience in four domains: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. (ibid, p. 13) Because a dramatic-metaphorical common denominator is shared by all cognitive models (Baars) and by drama-based video games (DBG), Psychecology Games—as dream analogs— can be 2


used as cognitive research instruments (Schafer & Yu) to verify Jungian principles and correlate them with other cognitive research models. In order to gain unprecedented insight as to the emergent and distributive aspects of an incipient age of psychological mediation, this chapter provides an illustration of psychological programming dynamics for psychecology games. Such insight could be applied to revolutionize education, to amplify understanding of higher-order cognition, and to establish a global media policy that fosters coherence and sustainable value systems for a media age. Key Terms: Metaverse, drama-based video games (DBG), media dream, Psychecology, coherence, compensation, synchronicity, correspondence, Amplification Method, Carl G. Jung, dreamscape, cognitive framing, dream analysis, Theatre Metaphor, Global Workspace Theory (GWT), cognitive dynamics, contextual, geospatial.

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Introduction The value of video game technology for training is well established in such applications as flight simulation, military training, and a variety of uses in the medical industry. During the past ten years, interest in serious games for teaching has resulted in many insights such as their uses in student based pedagogy. (Bawden) More recently, research such as the Luminosity Project which employs video games to gain insight for improvement of mental processes is experiencing a quantum leap, and interest in so-called consciousness research has burgeoned. However, little research has been directed at the relationships between dreams and video games, and research addressing the correlations among media technology, game technology, cognitive theory, and dream theory remains entirely speculative. In this chapter, we make a recommendation as to how such research can be accomplished using drama-based video games (a genre we call Psychecology Games) as dream analogs for the purpose of researching the ontological-psychological paradigm shift into a media age. In the Background section of the chapter, we provide a summary of relevant research and a rationale of its efficacy. The remainder of the chapter is dedicated to a detailed illustration as to how Psychecology Games could be used to research the dynamics for reframing the collective unconscious using indicators of psychic disharmony in contextual media dreams. Within the emergent human reality where unified field dynamics of energy and information prevail and where atoms and molecules are shared throughout systems in the field, we now know that, “In globally coherent systems such as human beings, there is an incredible amount of activity at every level of magnification or scale that spans more than two-thirds of the 73 known octaves of the electromagnetic spectrum.” (McCraty & Childre)

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“Is all our life, then, but a dream?” (Lewis Carroll) An unprecedented reality shift is underway, and it is not uncommon to hear that the emergent technologically mediated reality is dreamlike. It may be that the key to understanding the paradigm shift in the human perception of “reality” is directly related to dream dynamics and structure. Perhaps the most comprehensive theory of dream dynamics was developed by Carl G. Jung. Both Jung and neurolinguist, George Lakoff employ the common denominator of dramatic structure to explain how “healing” of the cognitive unconscious can occur. Researching the dynamics of dream analysis and gaining lucidity as to the media dream may be critical to navigating the paradigm shift into the dreamscape of a media age. Our assumption is that if the collective Media Dream can be analyzed according to Jungian principles of dream analysis, media feedback has the potential to foster coherent psychological states consistent with a more sustainable planetary future. If human “consciousness” can be defined as meaningful insight arising from contextual cognitive processes in the present moment, the Jungian Amplification Method in conjunction with George Lakoff‟s Family Metaphors could be used to reframe the collective unconscious. In today‟s reality of statistics and target groups, it may be hypothesized that—at least metaphorically—human groups have “personalities,” (ethnic, political, religious, corporate) that are defined by normative-conceptual cognitive structures imbedded in the collective unconscious. (Lakoff, 2008, p. 75-110) Within the holographic framework of technological mediation where advertising and propaganda constantly alter collective values, choices, and behaviors, it may be postulated that these collective personae harbor distributive correlates to the human nervous system and that these collective systems should be researched in order to foster coherent and sustainable cultural value structures. 5


Employing his research on Family Metaphors that characterize conservative and progressive political value structures, George Lakoff (2002; 2008) has devised what can be understood as a distributive physiological system for framing the collective unconscious. Based on principles of dream analysis, Jung‟s Analytical Psychology may also be understood in terms of a distributive system for reframing cognitive processes in order to heal mental disorder. Though he worked with individual patients and his methodology was very sensitive to “contextuality” or the highly personal context of a patient‟s psyche, Jung was explicit as to the correlations between the dynamics of individual and collective psyche. (Jung, p. 202) So Jung inferred both the distributive and physiological basis for mental events in the personal and collective unconscious and based his compensational psychiatric theory and practice on the symbolic “linguistics” of dream images. If there is a correlation between personal and distributive physiological dynamics at levels of energy and information such that neurobiological patterns of the personal unconscious may be correlated with archetypal dynamics and patterns of the collective unconscious, it may be possible to address the cognitive dynamics of collective personae in order to apply compensational measures to correct collective mental disorder. If the holographic media edifice constitutes a dreamlike projection from the distributive, archetypal, collective unconscious, applying Jungian methodology to analyze the Media Dream could provide unprecedented insight as to archetypal dynamics of collective personae and divulge sources of mental disorder in contextual collectives. If collective personae have dreams, the cognitive response of individuals to dream images may be correlated with the cognitive response of collective personae to media images.

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If Jung‟s Amplification Method that compensates for cognitive disharmony is essentially the same as biofeedback methods for creating coherent states, applying amplification feedback principles to media content may foster psychological coherence in the distributive unconscious in order to heal collective mental disorder.

Background “As it is above, so it is below.” This ontological metaphor of reality has persisted for millennia, and it can be easily translated into the context of technological proportionality and the worldview of psyche-physics where energy and information prevail. This holistic metaphor not only defines the symbolic meaning of myth, the genetics of DNA, and the physics of holography, it subsumes the recursive mathematics of Fourier transforms and the fractal nature of rhetorical correspondence. In conjunction with the dynamics of Jungian dream analysis and Lakoff‟s cognitive frames, the ancient metaphor becomes a scientific tool for navigating the Psychecology. Carl Jung saw through the delusions of the age of scientific materialism, mingled myth and alchemy with physics, and applied holistic ontology to his theory and application of dream analysis. Salient among these was his understanding that collectives have the same cognitive dynamics as individuals. (Jacoby, p. 202) Jungian theory of psyche is a very good place to begin contemplating the paradigm shift into the ontology of the dreamscape. Though there is not sufficient space to discuss the energetics of Jungian dreams, suffice it to say that Jung based his structural edifice on the principles of psychic totality and psychic energism. (Jacoby, p. 2) Due to its structure and dynamics—defined by Jung and Joseph Campbell as the structure of dreams—the dramatic journey of the hero constitutes a common denominator between the 7


energy patterns of physics and the information patterns of psyche. During the journey, the mythic hero has accrues conscious meaningful insights that integrate archetypal energy patterns and experiential information patterns in a process of expanding consciousness. This process of meaningful insights eventually leads to a state of knowing that transcends the human state—what Joseph Campbell calls atonement (at-one-ment). The Journey of the Hero is employed as a universal storytelling structure in literature, film, games, and the general media. The Journey is a template for human evolution and development from the condition of the divisive dissonant personality to the more coherent state of the integrated Soul. The symbolic nature of the Journey is not lost on writers, but often the psychological ramifications of the mythic mentor are ignored. During DBG game-play—understood as a dream analog—the evolutionarytranscendental patterns can be technologically traced relative to their impacts on the nervous system, correlated with percepts and affordances of player choices, and reinforced in order to associate psychologically coherent choices with a game-win. Following are some of the correlates that qualify DBG as dream analogs: Myers-Briggs attributes as cognitive frameworks = contextual Jungian persona Dramatic-metaphorical structure = cognitive structure Images = symbolic language for compensation between conscious and unconscious states Dream image = game monitor image Coherent states = compensational states Jungian amplification method = compensational biofeedback method Myers-Briggs attributes = framework of Jungian psyche Psychic frames = conscious-unconscious cognitive frames Family metaphors of cognitive framing (Lakoff) = mythic Jungian archetypes

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Cognitive dynamics of individual persona = cognitive dynamics of collective persona Therefore, physiological data gleaned from DBG research may point the direction for understanding the distributive dynamics of collective personae. Such understanding may be applied to methods for reframing the cognitive unconscious with feedback from the Media Dream. Research with DBG would address the following points: 1. Examine any correlations between personal and distributive physiological dynamics in order to address cognitive dynamics of collective personae 2. Develop protocols in order to analyze the holographic media dream for evidence of cognitive correlations between individual & collective personae 3. Examine the efficacy of addressing the media dreamscape as a psychological projection from the distributive unconscious of collective personae 4. Demonstrate the value of using Psychecology Games to research cognitive dimensions of distributive personae in order to apply Jungian Amplification to coherent feedback modalities in the media It is well known that the use of media in the form of advertising and propaganda alters collective values, choices, and behaviors. (Curtis) If protocols for coherent feedback can be researched with DBG, perhaps the Media Dream—understood as a holographic version of the Hero‟s Journey—can be employed to reframe the distributive cognitive patterns of collective personae into the more coherent cognitive patterns of the collective Soul. Perhaps the media dream could be employed as feedback to provoke human transcendence.

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Optimizing Cognitive Coherence, Learning, & Psychological Healing with Drama-Based Games Precedents for Correlating Psyche & Physics Jung said, “The investigation of the psyche is the science of the future.” (Jacoby, p xii) The relationship between physics and psyche—psychic wholeness and psychic energism—is fundamental to Jungian theory, and Jung was not alone. Even before the publication of Joseph Campbell‟s, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, that equated myth with Jungian psychology, philosophers of physics were commenting on the parallels between the world of quantum physics and the world of myth. Even before Fritjof Capra wrote his classic, The Tao of Physics, Sir Arthur Eddington had said of quantum reality that, “The stuff of the world is mind stuff.” (Foster, p. 11) He concurs with Jeans and Whitehead that, “In the scientific world the concept of substance is wholly lacking and that which most nearly replaces it, electric charge, is not exalted as star-performer over the other entities of physics.” Sir James Jeans observes that the quantum reality is like the thought of a mathematical thinker, (Ibid, p. 13) and Alfred North Whitehead explains that the doctrine of materialism has been replaced by the doctrine of organism. (Ibid, p. 20). The most recent research in neurolinguistics has verified that the cognitive unconscious is “mind stuff” that has dramatic structure and is measurable in terms of energy and information. (Lakoff) In other words, there is ample precedent for the Jungian idea that human thought and feeling originates in a field of energy and information that has a dramatic framework which allows for correlation of the energy of physics and the information of psyche. Moreover, these subjective forces of the cognitive unconscious generate material consequences. In short, matter is not a thing; it is no-thing but a state of organization that humans understand in terms of symbolic

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language. In The Philosophical Scientists, David Foster observes that, “The world of physics is a world based on laboratory measurements which result in pointer readings and numerical values” (p.10-11) that include such numerical invariables as the velocity of light, Avogadro‟s number, Planck‟s constant, the mass of the neutron, and the charge on the electron. Foster would agree with Jung that—as it creates reality with symbols—the human mind (psyche) is the common link between the world of physics and the “familiar actuality.” (p. 11) Our proposition is that the numerical values of the energy of physics have correlates to the information patterns of psyche, and that they can be researched with DBG. Researchers in mind-body medicine have long known that—in the human body— imagination stimulates the flow of chemicals and hormones called neurotransmitters. This flow of neurotransmitters generated by the human imagination replicates the flow initiated by socalled “real” experience and this fact has given rise to such research as “cellular memory” (Chopra) and an array of “consciousness” research (TSC) within diverse fields such as molecular biology, neurobiology, neurolinguistics, and the study of coherent states. Such research has broken through the illusory mask of materialism to the fundamental dimension of psyche-physics where—inexorably— “reality” is becoming a psychecology—an ecology of energy and information—where the game-rules are remarkably different than those that characterized a more substantive era of scientific materialism. Increasingly, science is “validating” the strange reality that comports with the reality of dreams. Everything is nothing, the whole exists within the part, coherent intentional thought is the quintessential creative dynamic, and mediation is metaphysical. It is important to note that the metaphysics of myth appears to be consistent with the metaphysical science of psyche-physics. Though making this

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argument is not the primary objective of this chapter, it is important to keep the apparent translatability of the term “metaphysics” in mind because dream images are metaphysical. The key to addressing the psychological ramifications of media metaphysics may be the image. Research on image perception is vast. Based on the erroneous assumptions of Behaviorism, much of it is useless. Except for lack of space, the incipient insights of Gestalt Psychology and the formidable findings in virtual reality research would contribute to our argument. One study, The Moving Image: Contemporary Film Analysis and Analytical Psychology (Broodryk) offers a compendium of research and analysis that is directly relevant to our thesis. The prediction is that very soon these symbolic patterns we call images in the form of 2D and 3D online worlds will become as visually and data rich as the “real” physical world. Some say that, increasingly, people will use their insubstantial video game avatars in their “realworld” interfaces. (Metaverse Roadmap) Add to this prediction the conclusion reached fifteen years ago in The Media Equation (Reeves and Nass) which verified that people in all demographics perceive mediated images as “real.” A practical consequence of this finding was that computer users perceive their computers as having personalities. This realization has played a significant part in making computers more “user friendly,” but its salient implication—that the human reality is based in contextual projections (personifications) from the unconscious psychecology—is Jungian. The cognitive unconscious appears to have personality. Jungian dream analysis is wholly based on the idea that dream messages are projections from contextual personae that, with meaningful conscious insight, can heal by harmonizing the internal with the external persona. Genetic research is expanding the data relative to sub-atomic molecular influences on personality

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and recent research has disclosed that intentional thought can alter DNA. (Editor) All mediated advertising is based on the assumption that target groups have contextual personae. All public opinion polls based on statistics assume the distributive existence of contextual personae, and cognitive framing defines political culture in terms of distributive personae whose value structures are based on physiologically traceable Metaphors of the Family. (Lakoff, 2002; 2008) The reality and dynamics of such dreams are fundamental to human epistemology, but the inference that may be drawn from the fact—humans alter reality on psychic levels that have quantum-molecular correlates—is not being applied to the address planetary crises. To this end, the impact of powerful human media systems on the Psychecology must be researched more aggressively and more comprehensively. There is, however, an incipient trend. In recent research, The Global Coherence Monitoring System (GCMS) will soon be measuring the affect of human emotion on the Earth‟s ionosphere, and other studies have provided compelling evidence that nonlocal intuition is real. (McCraty, Atkinson) In short, scientific attitudes are rapidly changing relative to the reality of the Psychecology and its influence on planetary systems. The Media Dream So, the mediated future appears to be much like a dreamscape, where collective personae may have contextual dreams that are projected from the collective unconscious as images in the Media Dream. In an incipient media age, analysis of such collective dreams could prove highly practical for the fostering of coherent states in contextual collectives. In order to understand how media dreams work, it is useful to consider the metaverse. The term refers to a virtual reality-based imaging technology where, as avatars, humans interact 13


with each other in a three dimensional space that serves as a metaphor of the real world. It is prophesied that, increasingly users will associate personal avatars with their public personas, and use their avatars to mediate contact with the “real” world. (Wikipedia, Metaverse) In other words, the prediction is that within the next decade or so, human reality will be altered to such an extent that people will live their lives vicariously as daimons to their avatars. Such augmentation of geospatial cognitive realities heralds an ontological paradigm shift into an age of the MediaDream—a collective dreamscape generated by neurobiological processes. Because the dynamics of energy and information in Jungian dream analysis are correspondence-based, i.e. recursive, they can be correlated with the dynamics of energy and information in physics and all of the principle cognitive models. A direct analogy is the way that software projects pixels as archetypal representations that appear as meaningful images. These images remain recognizable through such dynamics as Gestalt Invariance—the property of perception whereby representations are recognizable independent of rotation, translation, scale, and elastic deformations. Jung understands dreams as a symbolic language that “spans” the gap between unconscious (absolute) and conscious (relative-contextual) states. Jung calls dreams archetypal representations as opposed to “archetypes” proper because archetypes are creatures of the absolute—patterns of energy and information that occupy the unconscious—while archetypal representations are recursive projections of these patterns of energy and information. Meaningful insight can be understood to represent degrees of synchronization between the energy-information of archetypes and the energy-information of their representations—a diminishing of the “span” due to what can be understood as the synchronization of energies between different oscillating systems. Dreams provide a bridge with which the energy14


information of conscious and unconscious states can be tuned (frequency-locked) and harmonized with coherence-compensational dynamics. Essentially, the energy-information field of the media dream can be understood to have two metaphysical components. For our purposes, the energy of the unified field of physics— time, space, and what happens there—corresponds with the Aristotelian field of dramatic unities—the patterns of information we call psyche. Dramatic unities—time, place, and action— are unities because they cannot be separated. If time equates to plot (and verb tense) and place equates to character (subjects and pronouns in semantic frames), there can be no character without plot, no plot without character, etc., the field of psyche-physics can be synchronized because—at both conscious and unconscious levels—it has the metaphysical “structure” of metaphorical drama and semantics. This field is in constant state of cognitive movement, interaction, and transformation that manifests consciously as archetypal representations in the eternal now that are recursively linked to eternal timelessness. It is likely that human potential (evolution or the expansion of consciousness) resides in ephemeral moments of relative coherence between the energies of the unconscious and the information of consciousness. Such moments can be facilitated with Jungian dream dynamics. Mediation is a function of language that takes many forms: mathematics (algorithms & Fourier transforms), symbolism, and the narrative architecture of metaphor and cognitive framing. It may be postulated that, existing as a unity, psyche incorporates duality that takes the form of an integrated, proportional matrix—holographic reality. The matrix is woven on the multi-dimensional axes of consciousness and unconsciousness where relative, fractal proportions may be calculated in the geometry of “imaginary images in space-time” (iST) and “panoramic images in space-time” (pST). (Foster, p. 107-116; Schafer, 2007) 15


This proportionality allows for the recursive mapping of “unconscious” psyche according to the images deemed “conscious.” In other words, the contextual dream-like illusion, the “perceived world,” is proportionally (algorithmically) linked to the archetypal patterns—the Psychecology—of “the subjective world.” Because media dreams appear to have the same dynamics as Jungian dreams, like individual dreams, the images projected by a culture‟s media dream can afford practical insight as to the relative coherence or incoherence of the collective psyche. The cognitive sciences have verified that humans interpret “reality” in terms of complex visual-spatial and linguistic interfaces that span cognitive dimensions. During the past decades, our understanding of the energy of psyche has advanced radically, so Jungian principles become much more tractable. Scientists are now more comfortable thinking about interfaces between embedded energy and information. Like affordances, such structures are perceptible both consciously and unconsciously. “According to Gibson, an affordance, „is independent of the actor‟s ability to perceive it.‟ A door can have the affordance of openability (its affordance relative to the actor) but can be hidden, camouflaged or unavailable to the actor.” (Soargaard) In order to distinguish conscious and unconscious aspects of the process, experimental design should incorporate contrastive analysis of real-time interactivity. DBG have this unprecedented interactive capability, and—as with dreams—their dramatic-metaphorical structure may be employed as a point of reference for analyzing cognitive processes. According to Jung, the symbols in dream images are projections of a relatively limited number of archetypes, “that may emerge on many psychic levels and in the most diverse constellations; [the archetype] takes on a form, „habitus‟, adapted to the [contextual] individual

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situation and yet remains unchanged in fundamental structure and meaning; like a melody, it can be transposed.” (Jacoby, p. 45) Our assumption is that the media dream is holographic habitus, and the recursive nature of habitus (interfaces) allows for their analysis and algorithmic quantification. In other words, cognitive structures at unconscious levels are proportional and correspond to image structures (symbols) at conscious levels. Research based on this assumption could quantify the cognitive dynamics of distributive personae and render them useful for purposes of coherent cognitive reframing.

Designing the Psychecology Game The following is a cursory illustration of how a contextual character can be designed computationally according to variations of frames in different radial metaphorical domains. Two primary domains are the fundamental family metaphors defined by Lakoff and the fundamental psychic attributes defined by Jung. Programming software to correlate the two domains would result in authentic DBG personifications, player choices, and research potentials. First the dramatic-metaphorical framework for analytical reference must be defined in more detail. Like dreams, dream simulations may provide a bridge which “spans” (synchronizes) the gap between the information and energy of conscious and unconscious states. Tentatively, we have established the validity of researching human “reality” as a dream. If anything is “real,” it is human dependence on language, and the dramatic-metaphorical structure of dream-language provides the frame of reference necessary for discovery of conscious meaning within the functional parameters of Jungian psyche. (Jacoby, p. 83) In order to understand how Psychecology Games will be programmed in order to evoke correlates across many scales, it is 17


necessary to detail dramatic structure in some depth. Aristotle is the expert on drama, and he defined good Greek drama in terms specified by italics. The basic Aristotelian components have been amplified with the Jungian perspective and possible correlations. 1. Dramatic Unities (place, time, & action): that correlate to the reality of physics (space, time, and theory based on mathematical configurations 2. Cast of characters or dramatis personae: Characters are “place” holders that correspond to “space” in physics and nouns in semantics. 3. Exposition or statement of the dramatic problem: Here is presented the central content of dreams. The unconscious frames the question to which it will reply during the interactive dénouement of the dream. 4. Peripety: This is the „backbone‟ of the dream; the plot is woven, the action moves toward a climax, transformation or catastrophe. It correlates to verbs and can be articulated according to rules governing verb tense. 5. Lysis: This is the solution, the outcome of the dream, its meaningful conclusion and the disclosure of its compensatory message. In addition to these Aristotelian characteristics of drama, elements of interactive storytelling are important. These include concepts such as plot sequence, view sequence, the nested masks of personality, and character premise—all of which are discussed in Andrew Glassner‟s Interactive Storytelling and have been further developed in Premise, The Key to Interactive Storytelling (Schafer, 2008) 6. Nested Masks: The nested masks of personality correspond to Jungian functions and the fourfold mythic dimensions of the human being. The following definitions incorporate language that corresponds to Glassner‟s definitions (p. 43-45): 18


a. World mask: Archetypal representation projected into the world and portrayed as the image (Jungian archetypal representations) on the monitor b. Conscience: Structures of the cognitive unconscious—like Lakoff‟s family metaphors—that transform the absolute archetypes of the True Self into the form of values. c. Self image: “A player-avatar‟s notion of “self” shapes the values of the conscience into desires.” d. True Self: The archetypal Soul or unified self 7. Premise: Premise is what a character (player-avatar) learns, so it is directly connected to purpose and to meaningful insight—the dénouement. “The value of the premise is that it provides a test for the inclusion or exclusion of every element in the story.” (Glassner, p. 89; Schafer, 2007) Premise is the measure for the contextual validity of choices. If choices contribute to insight as to premise they are “valid” in the sense of progress toward a game win, so the meaningful insight gained by making valid choices is directly related to Jungian compensation and the achievement of psychic coherence. 8. Plot sequence: Beginning, middle, and end—the causal chain of events that make up the plot of a story. Plot sequence corresponds to unconscious archetypal patterns—an embedded Journey of the Hero. Often, plot sequence remains unconscious until meaningful insight is achieved relative to a player-dreamer‟s premise. In literary terms, the climax is where insight is achieved. In terms of David Boehm‟s holographic physics, plot sequence is the implicate order with which he explains the phenomenon of wave theory in physics. (Talbot, p.46-48)

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9. View sequence: Beginning, middle, and end; but not necessarily in that order. This includes such literary devices as flashback and flash-forward which are useful in the simulation of psychological dynamics such as memory, intuition, and foresight. In literary terms, view sequence is like stream-of-consciousness. In the holographic physics of Boehm, it is something like the explicate order with which he explains the phenomenon of particle physics. In Jungian theory, it is the archetypal representation articulated in the dream image. This is the perspective taken by the “contextual” viewerplayer-dreamer. It allows for increased interactivity with which to research cognitive dynamics. Within a unified framework of time, space (place), and action, the energy-information dynamics of dramatic architecture provide a multidimensional matrix with which to track and correlate neurolinguistic patterns. Discreet elements of such a matrix are contextual and infinitely variable, but the axes upon which interactivity and cognitive feedback are woven are consciousness and unconsciousness. Within the framework of this psychic loom, degrees and nuances of the conscious-unconscious can be interrogated.

Compensation, Coherence, and Consciousness Jung‟s Amplification Method of dream analysis has a “compensational” objective that corresponds to “coherent” reframing of the cognitive unconscious. Considered together, these trajectories of research provide the potential for creating collective value structures for a sustainable future. Applied to Jungian patients (or DBG game players), the term “contextual” refers to the energy and information that characterizes the personal psyche (Jacoby, p. 70) which is something 20


akin to a “holographic” multi-dimensional personality profile. The objective of the psychiatrist‟s feedback (amplification) process is to promote a state of psychic harmony or coherence within the “context” of the patient‟s energy-information field. However, in his own words, Jung explains how amplification principles as applied to dreams go beyond the treatment of patients. “The dream speaks in images, and gives expression to instincts, that are derived from the most primitive levels of nature. Consciousness all too easily departs from the law of nature; but it can be brought again into harmony with the latter by the assimilation of unconscious contents. By fostering this process we lead the patient to the rediscovery of the law of his own being …The way of successive assimilations reaches far beyond the curative results that specifically concern the doctor. It leads in the end to that distant goal (which may perhaps have been the first urge to life), the bringing into reality of the whole human being—that is, individuation.” (Jung 1933, p. 26) The function of both compensation and coherence is the attunement of diverse energy and information systems. According to Jungian theory, psyche is comprised of four integrated systems that he called functions— thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting—that are operative in both individuals and collectives. It appears that McCraty and Childre are speaking the same language when they observe that the global coherence necessary to produce a function applies to our physical, mental, and emotional functions as well as social systems. They observe that, “Coherence is also used to describe the coupling and degree of synchronization between different oscillating systems... Cross-coherence occurs—as with photons in a laser—where two or more oscillating systems become phase- or frequency-locked and operate at the same basic frequency…In physiology, cross-coherence occurs when one or more of the body‟s oscillatory

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systems, such as respiration and heart rhythms, become entrained and operate at the same frequency.” (p. 10-11) In a word, both compensation and coherence evoke a state of harmony—a condition of relative wholeness—but coherence is measurable physiologically and may be correlated with psychological markers. Research demonstrates that a psychological state of coherence—which is attained with a degree of meaningful insight achieved by biofeedback—reflects increased emotional and perceptual stability and increased alignment among the physical, cognitive, and emotional systems. (p. 13) Moreover: “It appears that synchronized activity underlies conscious experience itself. For the brain and nervous system to function, the neural activity, which encodes information, must be stable and coordinated, and the various centers within the brain must be able to dynamically synchronize their acidity in order for information to be smoothly perceived…Our „coherent‟ perception of an object in the external world actually comes from millions of neurons involved in processing sensory information that are made globally coherent by being brought together and organized into a global conscious experience…Coherence in this context is a measure of the correlated activity between brain regions that is orchestrated from direct neural connections between the regions…The degree of coupling, which regulates synchronized activity…varies…and is reflected in the alpha rhythm.” (p. 11) Accordingly, coherence between conscious and unconscious states can be understood to be the optimal cognitive state. Not only do coherent states optimize learning and health, they are related to transcendent states such as Flow, Peak Experience, and atonement (Schafer & Yu). So,

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human transcendence as portrayed in the Journey of the Hero seems to be based on the achievement of degrees of psychological coherence. As psychic contents become increasingly conscious or whole (healed), Jungian Amplification fosters the establishment of coherence among psychic contents. With meaningful insight, that which was unconscious becomes conscious. In answer to the question, “How does consciousness arise?” Jung equates consciousness with “knowing,” and he says, “Knowing is based…upon a conscious connection between psychic contents. We cannot have knowledge of disconnected contents, and we cannot even be conscious of them. The first stage of consciousness, then, which we can observe consists in a mere connection between two or more psychic contents.” (Jung, p. 98) If the Media Dream constitutes an archetypal representation of contextual content in the collective unconscious, it seems compatible with David Boehm‟s explicate reality. Within Boehm‟s holographic field of energy and information, coherent states may explain Jungian synchronicity, “A principle of explanation which supplements causality…as „a coincidence in time of two or more causally unrelated events which have the same or a similar meaning.” (Jacoby, p. 49) Coherence may be the meeting ground where meaningful insight constitutes synchronicity between the energy of physics and the information patterns of psyche. The information patterns of psyche can be measured as neurolinguistic frames. According to Lakoff, the cognitive unconscious has narrative-metaphorical structure where words and thoughts are defined relative to conceptual metaphors and narrative frames. The following quote alludes to the distributive aspects of narrative frames:

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“We are not born with them, but we start growing them soon, and as we acquire the deep narratives, our synapses change and become fixed. A large number of deep narratives can be activated together. We cannot understand other people without such cultural narratives. But more important, we cannot understand ourselves—who we are, who we have been, and where we want to go—without recognizing and seeing how we fit into cultural narratives.” (Lakoff 2008, p. 33-34) Given the above correlations, a matrix of computational relationships in DBG software seems more than feasible.

Psychological correlates projected as images A precedent for programming game stories that provide compensation from unconscious levels is the video game, Fable, (Fable™) which has a game engine that can provide simple contextual- psychological feedback to game players. In Fable, players design their avatars according to various parameters such as appearance, play-style, and spells. Once the “contextual personality” of the avatar has been established, player choices evoke unconscious changes in the appearance of the avatar. For example, based on eating choices, the avatar will grow fat or thin. Based on simple moral choices made by the player, supporting characters will respond differently to the avatar. If the avatar has a reputation for protecting the underdog, the image on the monitor will show peasants lining the road and cheering for him/her. If the avatar is a brutal killer, the image on the monitor will show peasants cowering before him/her. This innovative game dynamic has all the potentials for the more sophisticated interactive psychological dynamics characteristic of dreams. Because dreams constitute an interactive dialogue between conscious and unconscious states of the contextual dreamer, such “dialogues” afford dramatic conflict as well as the 24


opportunity to resolve conflict. For example, within the integrated psyche, differences of opinion between the unconscious emotional persona and the conscious rational persona are a common source of psychic disharmony. Sometimes our intuitive persona disagrees with our rational persona, or our moral persona disagrees with our emotional persona. Often, we don‟t know the difference between “needs” and “wants.” Presumably, we make most of our choices based on such conversations among aspects of the psyche at unconscious levels. (Lakoff, 2007 p. 9) With appropriate experimental design, DBG could reliably distinguish between affordances and percepts in order to probe the patterns of the cognitive unconscious. During Jungian dream therapy, conscious insight on the part of the dreamer is evoked with the amplification method which provides contextual feedback using methodology that is essentially a process of “proportional” metaphorical extension as to the meaning of symbols in dream images. Compensation achieved through “interactive dialogue” might be understood as “consensus” arrived at by conscious-unconscious psyche. Clearly, during a psychiatric session, the path to insight is very subjective—dependent on the intuitive skill of the psychiatrist and very difficult to quantify. Psychiatric skill is invaluable. However, it may be that game software with its prodigious memory capacity and speed could actually do a better job of amplification than the intuitive psychiatrist. If an authentic amplification process can be programmed, it could be formulated according to an algorithm that measures relative degree of insightful choice as a proportion based on calibration with the contextual player premise. Perhaps the algorithm of the discreet Fourier transform could be applied. (Aristido & Hanson) So, kaleidoscopic dream images can be understood as psychological dialogues. Just as unconscious psyche responds to dreamer insights with messages that are recursively linked (archetype to archetypal representation) and symbolically encoded in dream images, game 25


software responds to player choices with image alterations on the monitor. The choices of both dreamers and gamers are activated by a combination of conscious percepts and unconscious affordances. Accordingly, choice = degree of insight, so interactivity can be calibrated with the contextual player premise in order to provide compensational feedback to a player. During the process, neurobiological processes can be tracked and gradual process of evolution toward a player premise may be observed. Conscious insight on the part of the game player can be evoked with programmatic feedback based on contextual calibration of game images. In DBG, the interactive dialogue being performed in the symbolic-metaphorical language of images would be programmed recursively with dramatic correlations to Jungian functions: Percept = Jungian sensation Affordance = Jungian intuition Feeling = Jungian emotion Reason = Jungian thinking The definition and correlation of functions is the basis for Myers-Briggs personality profiling. Therefore, a player‟s contextual evolution can be tracked according to player insight as expressed in choices. As view sequence, these choices would play something like stream-ofconsciousness and would appear random or open-ended. However, as game software leads the player toward dénouement, player choices would be reinforced in the direction of coherence between view sequence and plot sequence. In other words, the neurobiological purpose of contextual individuation embedded in the “plot sequence” can be tracked due to a triangulation of quantifiable navigation factors: personality profile, player choices, and dramatic premise. The physiology of meaningful insight may be navigated according to the frame changes in the game player‟s personality profile calculated according to proportional relationships among 26


plot sequence, view sequence or dénouement, and coherent game win. Also, the parameters of psyche could be correlated with the parameters of drama: the archetypal structure of the Hero‟s Journey with its definable character archetypes, its linear evolution (formatted in plot sequence software as exposition), interactive choice (formatted in view sequence software as amplification or proportional insight), and successful game win (formatted in software as lysis or optimal resolution of the psychological problem). According to game mechanics, dénouement correlates to the degree of conscious player insight as to the contextual premise (measured as degrees of “correct” choice) and the game win (the reference point for correctness). Dramatic Peripety permits contrastive analysis of content that is both conscious and unconscious—a combination of view sequence and plot sequence that—when they are coherent—produces complex psychological insight. Such insight may be thought of as the emergence of affordances into a state of consciousness. Or, it can be understood from Bohm‟s perspective as the grasping of connections within a “system” of thought where an individual‟s thoughts are only fragments of the larger system. Such fractal thoughts would resonate according to the dramatic-metaphorical structure of a unified system of “living” thought that is generative and a priori. Within such a framework, dramatic insight constitutes a tenuous glimpse of systemic functions, relationships, and correlations. Both synchronicity and coherence can be considered measures of the degree of dramatic insight. Accordingly, game software could be designed to provide more sophisticated and scientifically veridical psychological feedback to players contextualized according to MyersBriggs personality profiles. The DBG game engine would begin by profiling the persona of the player. Using Myers-Briggs protocols, highly accurate profiles can be created with short questionnaires, and profiles can be amplified by giving players an opportunity to design elements 27


of their avatar and game play. Once the profile is established, software will refer to that persona, analyze and remember choices made by the player, and—based on remembered contextual patterns—present new choices to the player. Essentially, such software would adopt the role and function of the psychiatrist. The following is an example of Myers-Briggs personality profiling:

Cognitive Framing according to INTJ & INFJ Personality Profiles George Lakoff explains how cognitive framing works, “Simple narratives have the form of frame-based scenarios…There is a protagonist, the person whose point of view is being taken. The events are good and bad things that happen. And there are appropriate emotions that fit certain kinds of events in the scenarios.” (2008, p. 23) He also says that, “For example, the experience of a red rose is not just an experience of a rose shape, an experience of redness, and a certain scent. Binding shape, color, and scent together provides a complex experience… and is accomplished just by neurons and connections.” (2002, p. 26) Metaphorical resonance and semantic fields are correlated. As Lakoff points out, “The linguist Charles Fillmore discovered that words are all defined relative to conceptual frames. Groups of related words, called semantic fields, are defined with respect to the same frame. Thus words like „cost,‟ „sell,‟ „goods,‟ „price,‟ „buy,‟ and so on are defined with respect to a single frame.” (Lakoff, 2008, p. 22) Data relative to semantic fields may be correlated with data relative to Jungian dream motifs. “Amplification is a limited, controlled, and directed association process which circles round the dream nucleus and so helps the analyst to put a finger on it.” (Jacoby, p 85) This is a paraphrase of what is meant when we talk about the cognitive framing of the unconscious psyche. Cognitive frames have dramatic form that includes: scenarios, actions, parameters, roles, and relationships—their metaphorical resonances are virtually unlimited, but 28


the framing process renders them sufficiently finite to be meaningful. For example, Lakoff‟s illustration of the “Commercial Event Frame” (p. 251) includes a cast of characters called buyer, seller, goods, and money; a plot sequence that incorporates the sequential exchange of goods for money; and a view sequence of potential scenarios that predispose other frames such as a desire frame, a possession frame, and a transfer frame. A classic example of a semantic frame is the rose—a symbolic prototype that represents archetypal resonance related to the feminine, love, and nearly infinite variations within radial framing domains. We all know that conflict drives plot. What we may not know about is the unconscious source of psychological incoherence. We have trouble translating unconscious conflict into consciousness. Our contention is that such incoherence can be recognized at metaphorical levels and referred to categorical parameters defined by Jung and applied in Myers-Briggs profiles. For example, two of the categories of Jungian Functional Preference Orderings among the sixteen Myers-Briggs personality types are INTJ and INFJ. Each type incorporates the basic four Jungian functions of psyche as well as additional domains (radical categories) of personality such as extroversion/introversion and judging/non-judging. Psychologically, these are potential conflict areas. According to Jungian parameters, a personality conflict could result from an admixture of INTJ (the Scientist) and INFJ (the Protector). Therefore, a contextual plot sequence could be defined according to this specific dichotomy and employed in a contextual Hero‟s Journey. Game choices that contrast valences relative to scientist vs. protector could be presented to the gamer as view sequence. The interplay between plot sequence and view sequence would provide action based on metaphorical resonances in order to foster coherence. Eventually neural patterns would be reframed.

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For example, according to Myers-Briggs, two of the Jungian Functional Preference Orderings, INTJ and INFJ are defined as follows: INTJ Dominant (introverted intuition), Auxiliary (extraverted thinking), Tertiary (introverted feeling), Inferior (extraverted sensing)

INFJ Dominant (Introverted Intuition) Auxiliary (Extraverted feeling) Tertiary (Introverted Thinking) Inferior (Extraverted Sensing)

As we can see, the primary difference between INTJ and INFJ exists in the reversal of auxiliary and tertiary methods used by the personalities to cope with their reality. Simply, in both cases a conflict exists at auxiliary and tertiary levels between “feeling” and “thinking”; the tendency of the persona is to feel confusion due to conflicting unconscious urges to be outgoing or ingoing relative to thinking and feeling. This confusion can be employed as a basis for designing dramatic choices and quandaries on a continuum that includes Feeling valence (comfortable/uncomfortable) and Thinking judgment (good/bad). These Jungian parameters could be combined with Lakoff‟s conservative or progressive frameworks (SFM or NPM) and their many subsidiary metaphorical frameworks to create a complex matrix of interaction among radial symbolic domains. Within this computational network, nodal synchronicities (connectionism) would trigger variations in pixel arrangements to create a stream of interactive images. This would constitute a dream simulation embedded with authentic contextual dramatic architecture—an authentic recursion between a priori (archetype) and a posteriori (archetypal representation) dimensions. Applied to DBG research, the combined models for evoking psychic coherence could divulge protocols for reframing the contextual unconscious of collective personae. This would alter reality as we know it. Lakoff‟s protocols for reframing cultural values are compatible with Jung‟s principles of compensation leading to individuation, and both are correlated with coherent 30


states. Lakoff‟s model is based on embodied research, but it is applied to distributive dimensions impacted by the media. He advocates for a reframing of the American cultural psyche by adhering to the Nurturant Parent Metaphor which is the archetype for “progressive” value structures instead of the Strict Father Metaphor which is the archetype for the “conservative” value structure. (Lakoff, 2008, pp. 33-34) The dichotomy between the strict Father Metaphor and the Nurturant Parent Metaphor provides countless opportunities for dramatic conflict and resolution in the cognitive plots of both individuals and collectives. Because of their authenticity, Psychecology Games have the capability to evoke meaningful insight in order to improve understanding of the evolutionary individuation dynamic. As Lakoff points out, reminiscent of Jungian archetypes, the primary metaphors do not exist in their pure form. As relatively conscious archetypal representations, nothing exists in its pure form. Instead, due to an individual‟s contextual experience, the unique configuration of reinforced synapses and cognitive frames will constitute a separate but equal component of a distributive system. Individuals are a composite of overlapping, inter-penetrating metaphorical frameworks. For example, one can be a fiscal conservative but a foreign policy liberal at the same time. “Terms like „conservative,‟ „liberal‟ and „progressive‟ do not, and cannot, do justice to the complex reality of our politics and our experience as humans.” (p. 69) As part of a collective persona, each unique person is framed by and contributes to the distributive pattern of that persona. Each has his/her own premise, and that individual premise fits into the grander premise of the collective persona. “As it is above, so it is below.” The mythic principle is that individuals and collectives are searching for meaningful insight as to their premise, and that insight eventually leads to self-realization and atonement.

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As an example of contextual premise, we will develop the subsidiary metaphor Lakoff calls Work Ethic. Work Ethic is a metaphorical pattern that is directly related to personal attitudes and responses to authority. Because authority plays a part in everyone‟s life, it is a cognitive frame that applies to diverse collectives. Some of these conflicts about authority can be specified and focused in attitudes toward work—what Lakoff describes as a work ethic based on either “reward” or “exchange”. Politically, “Work as a reward” is a hierarchical approach to authority and work as an exchange” is a populist approach. Altering the framework from reward to exchange will have significant impact across radial domains. on two subsidiary categories— empathy and communication—and will tend to alter the character-player‟s fundamental view of legitimate authority. In a well-developed story, interactive choices related to any one category will impact all radial categories. Within the framework of general family models, each of the following contrasts offers stereoscopic opportunities for making interactive choices leading to the realization of the protagonist‟s premise. Framing premise according to the Work Ethic Metaphor In his explanation of different work ethics associated with the different family metaphors, Lakoff discusses several radial domains. He explains that both fundamental ethics fall within the framing categories of the Moral Accounting Metaphor. The Work as Reward Metaphor is associated with conservative thinking (SFM) and is essentially authoritarian, while the Work as Exchange Metaphor is associated with progressive thinking (NPM) and is essentially egalitarian. (Lakoff, p. 54-55): If game-choice scenarios are computationally articulated around the Work Ethic motif, player choices will be measured against a continuum of “correctness” relative to contextual moral standards to be psychologically “learned” by the player-avatar. The NPM premise might 32


be, “I have a right to the fruits of my own labor.” Meaningful choices consistent with the premise will be rewarded from levels of the “computational unconscious” where the plot sequence is known. Being contextual, “game wins” are primarily psychological and must be correlated with the player premise which—in turn—is based on the player‟s personality profile. These correlations are part of the “archetypal” game software. Like dreams, “archetypal representations” projected onto the monitor by the software will respond interactively. In other words, based on proportions of the unconscious, the symbolic message of the imaging language will adjust to the choices made by the player. Within the overall programmatic context of the game-story, premise would be defined according to the individuality of the player while a game win can be defined in terms of player insight as to the personal premise. Premise might be episodic or serialized. In such cases, the contextuality of psychecology games could provide a research opportunity to explore an unprecedented range of psychological issues related to self-discovery and leaning without impossible demands on the game engine or the software The primary value of the proposed psychecology games is that cognitive parameters of individuation can be researched by providing relevant feedback to individual game-players. If such software is developed, this contextual feature of the software constitutes an unprecedented potential for DBG as research instruments, pedagogical tools, and psychological healing mechanisms. Software will share a dramatic-metaphorical common denominator and have direct access to the contextual personality profile of the player. The process whereby meaningful insight is related to contextual learning potentials will be implicit in game software and will become explicit through player choices and dénouement. Because the image projections are

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entirely computational, they provide a means for tracking, enhancement, and re-framing of the cognitive unconscious. According to Jungian parameters, if the above protagonist happens to have an INTJ personality profile, s/he must harmonize the dichotomy by adjusting to a different personality profile. Maintaining a Work as Exchange ethic requires empathy; and, because a strong part of the INTJ personality is thinking rather than feeling, making an adjustment that involves empathy would be easier for an INFJ than for an INTJ. Because game software has access to the player‟s personality profile and knows this, the game software has established the subconscious dramatic premise and is ready to evoke player choices with appropriate feedback consistent with the premise. Eventually, player response patterns will synchronize with meaningful insight as to the “game” win. In order to win, the player will associate subconscious values with relatively conscious choices throughout the game. Such associations will tend to reframe the player‟s cognitive unconscious in a way consistent with both Jungian principles of compensation and the coherent parameters of cognitive framing. Reframing the Cognitive Dynamics of Rose Rose is a female, so her gender dispositions tend in the direction of nurturance which— like love and relationships of all kinds—is based on empathy. Her personality type is INTJ, which places an emphasis on “thinking,” but her problem is that she needs to attain insight and make a conscious adjustment toward “feeling.” Because people in her (conservative) environment want her to extrovert thinking, she is stereotyped by her Strict Father community (and family) as an anti-ideal prototype. Probably because of her confusion, she is inconsistent as to her life choices but tends in the direction of the more feeling expression that characterizes the INFJ personality type. 34


Specifically, Rose is confused because of her unconscious auxiliary and tertiary Functional Preference Orderings. As an INTJ, she vacillates between extroverting her feeling or her thinking. This problem will be resolved if she gets insight that her natural preferences are more suited to INFJ where feeling is extroverted and thinking introverted. Rose might never think of it in precisely these terms, but by playing the game, she will learn to make choices that are consistent with her more feeling nature. These choices will allow her to win her game. If everything else in Rose‟s character formula remains the same, her unconscious premise should be framed in terms of adjusting to the INFJ—more feeling—profile. Rose‟s cognitive frames need an adjustment that supports the Work as Exchange Metaphor. However, the reality is that such a change will evoke changes throughout her profile. Because these alterations can be correlated within the structure of the story, research on collateral leaning with reference to interactive choices would provide great insight as to cognitive processes. The correlation of cognitive frames with Jungian functions could provide a matrix for measuring and reinforcing compensational “insight” in order to achieve conflict resolution represented by a game-win. Within the developmental parameters of the avatar/player, a recursive programming dynamic between unconscious (plot sequence) and conscious (view sequence) cognitive levels comprises the primary potential for neurobiological tracking.

Conclusion In this chapter, we addressed a complex multi-faceted hypothesis: If there is a distributive correlate to individual neurobiological cognition, collective personae can be understood to have dreams that are analogous in structure and dynamics to an individual‟s dreams as defined by Carl Jung. Further, if the dreams of collective personae are projected from the collective unconscious

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as the Media Dream, Jung‟s methodology for analyzing dreams could be applied to contextual media dreams in order to diagnose collective mental disorder and to foster healthy coherent states. Since Jung‟s Amplification Method comports with George Lakoff‟s metaphorical reframing of the cognitive unconscious and such reframing comports with biofeedback methods for creating coherent states, applying Jungian amplification to content of the media dream in order to reframe collective value structures becomes possible. The Media Dream could become an unprecedented tool for coherent social design in a media age.

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