While the clock is pretty resistant to modification, a fundamental question can be asked regarding the power of anticipation and Polystasis. Can we ever feel energized during a low point in our circadian clock, or de-energized during a high point in our clock? The obvious answer is “yes.” We all know how to remain alert during a boring afternoon meeting (even if it is just to pinch ourselves). Furthermore, we all have been bored-to-death (or at least bored-to-sleep) by an encounter with someone who is telling us the same story for the fiftieth time.
Yes, we can influence our circadian clock. However, do our anticipations influence the clock. I propose that the answer to this question is also “Yes.” We anticipate the boring meeting and set up our defenses against this meeting (which means engaging our energy-draining sympathetic system). We engage in self-fulfilling prophecy during the meeting, when we reinforce our belief and feelings that this meeting is boring and a waste of time. We are setting ourselves up for low energy and drowsiness, given the time of day when the meeting is being held.
Conversely, it is mid-afternoon and naptime. Yet, we are about to attend a matinee performance of a favorite musical or afternoon football game. We are “hyped” up even before entering the theater or stadium. We couldn’t possibly “fall asleep” while the female lead is singing that lovely number or our quarterback is throwing that long pass to the streaking wide-out. All this anticipation and envisioning occur in anticipation of the event.
We can hear the music or “see” the quarterback pass even before the event begins. We anticipate an exciting event, and it self-fulfills as an event that triggers a “high” in us. We already know this is the case from studies done of another kind of energizing event. This is gambling. We now know that the “high” (mostly dopamine) is trigger not when one hits a jackpot on the slot machine. The “high” is triggered when one is entering the casino. It is the anticipation that yields dopamine, not the payoff. That is why an “addicted” gambler will get “high” even when continually losing at the card table.
Perhaps we should envision the circadian clock having a large knob on its front. We can twist the knob and readily (or at least under some conditions) change the time on our clock . . .
Polystasis, the Ideational Train and Dreaming
We can also draw implications from the concept of anticipation and the model of Polystasis for our understanding and appreciation of the dreaming process. I wish to return to our peremptory ideational train, as a way to shown how psychological anticipation and the Polystatic process might be relevant in seeking a deeper appreciation for dreaming as a central feature of unconscious life. As George Klein (1967) proposes, there may be thoughts, feelings and images that are connected to one another and energize one another to the extent that these thoughts, feelings and images influence our waking thoughts, feelings and images. He did studies in which very short exposures to specific images and words led to latter indications that these images and words influence what we see and what we retain. He proposed that there is a peremptory ideational process that carries the briefly exposed images and words on an unconscious journey that enables these images and words to be influential.
Brief Moments of Influence
Might these images and words not only influence what we see and retain, but also what we anticipate. If we see a specific image or word for a brief moment (often identified as subliminal perception), then this image or word might lead us to anticipate the same or a similar image or word in the near future. Bringing back the model of self-fulfilling prophecy, we could even see “see” the image or word where it doesn’t even exist. We glimpse at a fleeting image and assume it is what we saw before. As we witnessed in the highly controversial studies done regarding subliminal perception (hidden persuaders), the briefly exposed image or word might even generate or precipitate specific feelings or an appetite for specific foods.
