[anador]

is this closer to what you see?

Visual Snow?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'I') think that's random nerve activity of any organ, it's just that the eyes provide a visual representation of what is usually below our threshold of detection. My guess is that it's in the visual part of the brain rather than the actual retina.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anador', 'i')s this closer to what you see?

Visual Snow?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow

[Timo]

Interesting quest. When i look into a dark space, or any lit space, for that matter, i do see something superimposing itself over the object that i'm looking at, but rather than spots, i'd describe it more like snow, like looking at a TV screen that's not tuned in to any channel. Perhaps the biggest reason i find this interesting is that a little over two years ago i fell 20 feet, landing head first on concrete, split my skull in two, and yada-yada. Fortunately, though, 2009 in my mind never happened. Poof! No memory of anything for a long time, before or after. I'm still only 29! But, my wife tells me that i had double vision for about 6 months afterward, and i also have a lot of those floaters swimming around in front of me. Quite frankly, i attributed the snow as simply a result of that brain trauma. Maybe not, though. Assuming we're talking about the same visual, however, what's your point? What's the cause/object that you're suggesting? Is it medical/neurological, or something else?

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'I') think it's normal---the background "radiation" of vision.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anador', 'B')ut yeah... Kaleidescopic Television Snow, might be how I would call it

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'M')y guess is that they are an artifact of our nervous and visual systems. Or maybe I've gone mad.

[PrestonSturges]

Strangest visual thing that ever happened to me was left and right eyes got out of synch and I could hardly stand up because I had wildly swinging double vision. I focused one eye on the doorknob, and eventually both eyes got back on track. I never figured it out, and it never happened again.

[careinke]

I've always seen phosphenes, I thought everyone did. I can also see heat, it is kind of purplish/red, I think it is probably the top end of the infrared. Lastly, I seem to have a mild case of Synesthesia. The letter l looks green, and a double ll looks blue. It never bothered me, so I ignored it. Last year I ran across an article about it and discovered it had a name.

Have you ever wondered if the blue you see is the same blue that someone else sees? Perhaps that is why some are better at fashion design or art. I suck at both.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ian807', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'M')y guess is that they are an artifact of our nervous and visual systems. Or maybe I've gone mad.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anador', 'B')ut yeah... Kaleidescopic Television Snow, might be how I would call it

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'I')an, I carefully read the Wiki description of phosphenes. I don't think phosphenes are what I'm "seeing," since "mechanical, electrical, or magnetic stimulation" isn't involved (I'm familiar with those phenomena). I can see them with my eyes open while looking into a dark corner, or at something dark indoors, and even while looking at lighter objects. Strong light tends to tone them down.

They seem to form sort of the ground substance of the visual field.

My vision is very good; I don't think I have any pathology or strange issues. I think that everyone sees these things but isn't aware of it. They're there, but you're so used to them that you have no awareness of them.

[Heineken]

Good comments, Ian. Yes, maybe they are phosphenes, and the Wiki definition is a bit off, or not sufficiently inclusive.

I haven't noticed any effect of caffeine on them, and I wouldn't know how to get hold of hallucinogens.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anador', 'B')ut yeah... Kaleidescopic Television Snow, might be how I would call it

[Heineken]

Sigh . . . I'm not certain we're seeing the same thing, MD.

I'll try to describe more precisely what I see. Just now I closed my eyes (not tightly) and put my hand over them (not pushing on the eyeballs). I saw what I always see: blackness DENSELY filled with TINY SPECKS of light. Not flashes, not streaks, not shapes. Just specks. Billions of them. They seem to vibrate.

I can see the same specks with my eyes open, especially while looking at darker objects, especially while indoors.

Many, perhaps most, people I ask to try this out cannot see what I see, or they describe visual phenomena that differ from this. I find this frustrating and puzzling.

[basil_hayden]

This thread seems incredibly stupid to me but it did remind me of a joke my father used to play on us kids.

He'd grab a pen, draw a spot on each of our hands, then tell us to put our hands over our ears and ask us what we were doing.

"Listening to the Ink Spots" he'd say, LOL (kids - the Ink Spots were a band back in the day)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwfLe6sLis

[vision-master]

Hot Rod Lincon... lol

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('basil_hayden', 'T')his thread seems incredibly stupid to me

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', 'T')hey don't look anything like that. They move like Lava lamp goo sped up x100 and they change color and spin at amazing speeds while disappearing and appearing out of nothingness. As I said I am pretty sure it is radiation.

The visible light normal people see is only tiny part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum. People with extra sensory perception or ESP can see and hear other parts of the spectrum. The screen you are reading this from gives off so much radiation it would sound like a vacuum cleaner if you could hear it all.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '.').. I saw what I always see: blackness DENSELY filled with TINY SPECKS of light. Not flashes, not streaks, not shapes. Just specks. Billions of them. They seem to vibrate...
..