The Naked Scientists
  • Login
  • Register
  • Podcasts
      • The Naked Scientists
      • eLife
      • Naked Genetics
      • Naked Astronomy
      • In short
      • Naked Neuroscience
      • Ask! The Naked Scientists
      • Question of the Week
      • Archive
      • Video
      • SUBSCRIBE to our Podcasts
  • Articles
      • Science News
      • Features
      • Interviews
      • Answers to Science Questions
  • Get Naked
      • Donate
      • Do an Experiment
      • Science Forum
      • Ask a Question
  • About
      • Meet the team
      • Our Sponsors
      • Site Map
      • Contact us

User menu

  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Help
  • Search
  • Tags
  • Recent Topics
  • Login
  • Register
  1. Naked Science Forum
  2. Life Sciences
  3. Physiology & Medicine
  4. Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« previous next »
  • Print
Pages: 1 2 3 [4]   Go Down

Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?

  • 67 Replies
  • 129461 Views
  • 0 Tags

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Astronomer_FB

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • 64
  • Activity:
    0%
Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #60 on: 11/03/2009 03:58:47 »
if i stare at a light bulb for 3 seconds and then look away i see a green bulb next to it for a second or two.  i do know somewhat of what you are talking about, when i was little in elem i would close my eyes and puch them in and i would see black and grey colors forming images and going faster and intensifing. anyone ever done that?
Logged
 



Offline Chemistry4me

  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ******
  • 7705
  • Activity:
    0%
  • Thanked: 2 times
Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #61 on: 11/03/2009 05:26:15 »
Pushing in my eyeballs right now, I can see colours too. [:)]
There was something about this earlier in this thread.
Logged
 

Offline Karen W.

  • Moderator
  • Naked Science Forum GOD!
  • *****
  • 31886
  • Activity:
    0%
  • Thanked: 41 times
  • "come fly with me"
Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #62 on: 11/03/2009 07:29:08 »
I see what looks like a green light leading all the pinkish lavender lights around the circle.... like the head of a snake! LOL
Logged

"Life is not measured by the number of Breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
 

Offline Dou9las

  • First timers
  • *
  • 1
  • Activity:
    0%
Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #63 on: 03/06/2009 15:19:30 »
Quote from: John Chapman on 14/02/2009 10:43:40
Quick. Someone come and rescue me. Chem4me is making me think I'm a freak. Surely someone has experienced this colour change phenominum. Anybody?????
I woke up this a.m. and saw some "after images" without having looked into any bright lights...(scary!!) I found this forum while searching for info.

John, I too see "complimentary" colors with eyes open v. closed, when seeing after images. Just thought I would send you this link also, it appears to be documented as a normal aspect of seeing after images: newbielink:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a791215234~db=all~order=page [nonactive]
Specifically, "In some persons, after-images of images occur in complementary colours."

Logged
 

Offline Awesome 2000

  • First timers
  • *
  • 1
  • Activity:
    0%
Re: Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #64 on: 08/08/2013 23:59:48 »
I know im a little bit late but if u still read this i get the exact same thing
With colour changing and things
Exactly as u tell it
Logged
 



Offline IamYou

  • First timers
  • *
  • 2
  • Activity:
    0%
Re: Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #65 on: 25/02/2014 22:54:38 »
I found this upon searching for people with similar experiences.  In the animated gif that is in this post when i focus on the center all purple color completely dissapears and I just get left with a green ball that bounces around. 

I've had this happen to me ever since i was a kid.  When I look at light and I close my eyes i see an imprint left.  It's usually purple or green and I can slowly see the color fade away.  I want to use the analogy of a puddle of water slowly evaporating.

(the puddle is the color and spots left in my eye)

Also I believe this is related to the issue of me sneezing when I look at light at certain times of day.
Logged
 

Offline dlorde

  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ******
  • 1454
  • Activity:
    0%
  • Thanked: 14 times
  • ex human-biologist & software developer
Re: Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #66 on: 28/02/2014 09:08:39 »
If you want to know the details behind how and why you see weird after-image colours, there's a 2005 paper by Paul Churchland called 'Chimerical Colors: Some Phenomenological Predictions from Cognitive Neuroscience', which describes a complete model of human colour vision with enough detail to allow you to predict what colours you'll see under different conditions.

It gets a bit technical in places, but if you're patient, you'll come to a section near the end that shows you how you can see completely new colours that you'll never see normally; these are the chimerical colours of the title, self-luminous colours, and hyperbolic colours.

It's literally an eye-opener, but you'll need a colour-accurate printer to get the best results.
Logged
 

Offline yor_on

  • Naked Science Forum GOD!
  • *******
  • 81572
  • Activity:
    100%
  • Thanked: 178 times
  • (Ah, yes:) *a table is always good to hide under*
Re: Why does looking at a bright light give you spots before your eyes?
« Reply #67 on: 28/04/2014 20:32:36 »
A cool read Dlorde. I'm looking forward to read it,
Logged
URGENT:  Naked Scientists website is under threat.    https://www.thenakedscientists.com/sos-cambridge-university-killing-dr-chris

"BOMB DISPOSAL EXPERT. If you see me running, try to keep up."
 



  • Print
Pages: 1 2 3 [4]   Go Up
« previous next »
Tags:
 
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
  • SMF 2.0.15 | SMF © 2017, Simple Machines
    Privacy Policy
    SMFAds for Free Forums
  • Naked Science Forum ©

Page created in 0.29 seconds with 45 queries.

  • Podcasts
  • Articles
  • Get Naked
  • About
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to newsletter
  • We love feedback

Follow us

cambridge_logo_footer.png

©The Naked Scientists® 2000–2017 | The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks created by Dr Chris Smith. Information presented on this website is the opinion of the individual contributors and does not reflect the general views of the administrators, editors, moderators, sponsors, Cambridge University or the public at large.