Ask HN: Does anyone else see some sort of 'vision' whe they close eyes

6 points by samstave ↗ HN

9 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 29.3 ms ] thread
What do you mean by 'vision'? Imagination? Eyelid patterns? Something else?
Yes, to all, basically.

I also have known since I was 20 or so that I would eventually get macular degeneration? Is that how thats spelled? (the literal "unbuilding" of the eye...)

I have a floater in my right eye as soon as I turned 47 years old...

but when I close my eyes at night, I can "see" my veins....

Oh wow. I'm sorry to hear that.

I can't say that I see my veins or anything when I close my eyes. Sometimes I'll see big blurry colored blobs in red or in darkness. Occasionally I'll have a twitch or a shiver where I'll see what looks like static very briefly.

I'll occasionally face the sun with my eyes closed and wave my hands in front of my face to give myself a dream machine-like effect, which is relaxing. I would get this sensation when I was a kid and would sit in the car with my eyes closed while my mom would drive to school or church on any given sunny day. The tree branches would break up the sun's radiance as we passed underneath, giving the effect.

If I put my palms to my closed eyes, and move my thumbs at the sides of my head, I can 'see' my thumbs as shadows against a grey background. Probably just a vestige of hand-eye coordination that my brain invents. Anyone else get this?
I can influence patterns I see with my thoughts when I’m in the right headspace.
I do this too. If I wanted to see, let's say a cross, it magically appears, in this phosphene glow/aura. I think this is testament to the power of our minds. We can imagine anything and the brain paints a blurry picture of it.
I can see a blood like pulsing (reddish to gray). Never thought much of it. Doesn't bother me at night and I only notice it during the day.

Not as trippy as seeing 'static grain' or static overlay (like static from an old TV) at night in the dark - turns out that is a precursor to a migraine the next day.

What you're probably experiencing is Phosphene [1] or, more specifically, closed eye hallucinations / visualizations (CEV) [2]. Level 1-2 is very common. Level 3 is normal. Level 4 isn't rare but not likely for most people.

I get level 1-3 most nights. Typically a kind of lava lamp fractal experience. On occasion I get a level 4. Level 4 for me is usually like a high speed slide show of random visual memory frames from throughout the day. Almost like a snapshot low frame rate summary but played back quickly.

I hope you find these links useful and enlightening.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphene

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination

Yeah, these are really common experiences and called afterimages or one of the other terms motioned in the thread. Certain tricks like looking at a bright source of light before shutting you eyes or even meditating, in my experience, can increase their intensity.