![]() ![]() Sneezing really hard, getting whacked in the head, and standing up too fast (causing a drop in blood pressure) are also ways to trigger pressure phosphenes. According to Bókkon, any type of pressure on the eyes can cause them to emit an “excess of biophotons” that create intense visuals. The most common non-spontaneous phosphenes are pressure phosphenes, like the ones you see when you rub your eyes. You can also trigger phosphenes yourself by applying pressure to your eyes - but be careful trying this at home! Instead, most phosphenes occur spontaneously when the atoms in our eyes exchange their biophotons. But the phosphenes we mostly see every day are not related to any type of electromagnetic stimulation. ![]() ![]() In the lab, scientists generally use electric probes and fancy magnetic machines to make people see phosphenes. He discovered that by prodding different areas of the visual cortex with an electrode device, he was consistently able to induce the same kinds of phosphenes. He studied phosphenes in over a thousand volunteers and came up with 15 categories, including triangles, stars, spirals, spots and amorphous blobs. In the 1950s, the German researcher Max Knoll at the Technische Universität in Munich came up with a classification scheme for phosphene shapes. ![]() Researchers have also found that different areas of the brain’s visual cortex create certain specific shapes of phosphenes. A phosphene with an orderly geometric pattern like a checkerboard may have originated in a section of the retina where millions of light-collecting cells are arranged in a similarly organized pattern. Different atoms and molecules emit photons of different wavelengths, which is why we see different colors. Research has shown that direct electric and magnetic stimulation of the brain can trigger phosphenes, and Bókkon hopes to soon be able to prove that biophotons are responsible for these phosphenes as well.ĭepending on where a phosphene originates, it can take on a variety of shapes, patterns and colors. According to Bókkon, phosphenes can originate in various other parts of the visual system, too. When a reconstructed image looks like nonsense, the brain is quick to label the image as unreal, or a phosphene.īut that information doesn’t always come from your retinas. Here, the brain reconstructs an image using the information received from the eyes. These signals travel through the optic nerve to a part of the brain called the visual cortex. Inside the retina, millions of tiny cells called rods and cones collect light and convert it into electrical signals. “But they are mostly absorbed locally.” Almost all of the biophotons you see are the ones both emitted and absorbed by atoms in the retina - the part of your eye responsible for detecting light. “When you rub your eyes, this generates biophotons in many parts of the eyes,” explained Bókkon. Our eyes actually produce far more biophotons than we end up seeing as phosphenes. Either way, your optic nerve simply relays these light signals to the brain, which must then decide if it accurately represents the real world around you, or if it’s just a phosphene. Your eyes can’t tell the difference between photons from outside light and the biophotons emitted by your own atoms. This photon exchange is just a part of normal cellular function. “We see biophotonic light inside our eyes in the same way we see photons from external light,” said István Bókkon, a Hungarian neuroscientist who works at the Vision Research Institute in Lowell, Massachusetts.īiophotons exist in your eyes because your atoms constantly emit and absorb tiny particles of light, or photons. In the same way that fireflies and deep-sea creatures can glow, cells within our eyes emit biophotons, or biologically produced light particles. But not ordinary light - this light comes from inside your eyes. These strange blobs you see have a name they’re called “phosphenes,” and researchers believe that actual light may play a role. While you might appreciate the bedtime entertainment, in the back of your drowsy mind you’ve probably wondered what the heck you’re even seeing. A few seconds later, the colors settle down again. When you rub the sleep from your weary eyes, the lights suddenly intensify and bursts of bright colors appear all across your field of vision. How does colorblindness work? Claire Maldarelli Īs you settle into bed at night, close your eyes and begin to doze off, you may notice the colorful light show happening inside your eyelids. ![]()
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