# Strange vision phenomenon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2018, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417 "2018-07-23T08:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Man\_About\_Town](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Man\_About\_Town](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_About_Town)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/1 "2018-07-23T08:47:13Z")
Why, when you close your eyes after gathering berries, fruit, ets all day, do you see the image of those berries, fruit?šŸ™‚ Have anyone experienced that? Or is it just me?šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/2 "2018-07-23T09:41:23Z")
> **[Thiamine deficiency | Signs and symptoms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamine_deficiency#Signs_and_symptoms)** > > Symptoms of beriberi include weight loss, emotional disturbances, impaired sensory perception, weakness and pain in the limbs, and periods of irregular heart rate. Edema (swelling of bodily tissues) is common. It may increase the amount of lactic acid and pyruvic acid within the blood. In advanced cases, the disease may cause high-output cardiac failure and death. > Symptoms may occur concurrently with those of Wernicke's encephalopathy, a primarily neurological thiamine deficiency-related conditi... > [@](#): > > **Symptoms of beriberi include** weight loss, emotional disturbances, **impaired sensory perception** , weakness and pain in the limbs, and periods of irregular heart rate. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/3 "2018-07-23T12:26:55Z")
That covers one situationā€¦if it occurs after gathering fruit is it called frutifruti? > [@Riemann](#): > > [Thiamine deficiency - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamine_deficiency#Signs_and_symptoms) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/4 "2018-07-23T12:43:00Z")
When I did apple picking I dreamed of the damn things almost every night. I felt thoroughly cheated; I was fruit picking for 16 hours a day, but only getting paid for half. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/5 "2018-07-23T13:26:29Z")
The [Tetris effect,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect) perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/6 "2018-07-23T13:27:24Z")
I remember driving out here from Massachusetts in one day. When I finally went to bed, my mind was looking through the windshield and watching the highway speed by. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/7 "2018-07-23T13:31:47Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > The [Tetris effect,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect) perhaps? OH MY GOD IT HAS A NAME This happened to me when I was introduced to Tetris in college. I dreamed about blocks falling. A couple weeks ago we did some jigsaw puzzles on vacation. One morning I looked out the window and unconsciously started looking for distinctive spaces of sky between the tree leaves so I could hunt for a piece that fit. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/8 "2018-07-23T15:19:02Z")
Interesting the OP mentions picking berries. I picked berries for many summers as a kid. Making up to $6 a day! And then everytime I would close my eyes Iā€™d see the berry plants I worked on that day. Other things like that happen from time to time now, but those berries were the first time I noticed it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/9 "2018-07-23T15:25:19Z")
I think Iā€™ve experienced a related phenomenon - that is, after regular or sustained activity picking berries that are initially hard to find (letā€™s say wild strawberries), they get easier to find - your perception somehow gets trained to be more sensitive to them. And I wonder if thatā€™s part of the same thing - once your perception is trained to spot hard-to-see strawberries, other stimuli might trigger that tuned perception and make you think yourā€™re seeing them when youā€™re looking at just noise (a bit like deepdream and dogs) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/10 "2018-07-23T15:26:15Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > That covers one situationā€¦if it occurs after gathering fruit is it called frutifruti? Compote-ment syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/11 "2018-07-23T16:42:04Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think Iā€™ve experienced a related phenomenon - that is, after regular or sustained activity picking berries that are initially hard to find (letā€™s say wild strawberries), they get easier to find - your perception somehow gets trained to be more sensitive to them. [Search image](https://todayinsci.com/QuotationsCategories/P_Cat/Paleontology-Quotations.htm). (A phrase damn hard to google out of the false hits.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/12 "2018-07-23T17:08:55Z")
If Iā€™ve been reading a lot when I go to sleep I see the printed page. I canā€™t say I am reading it, but I do see the words. There must be a eyeball memory happening. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/13 "2018-07-23T21:23:21Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > OH MY GOD IT HAS A NAME > > This happened to me when I was introduced to Tetris in college. I dreamed about blocks falling. > > A couple weeks ago we did some jigsaw puzzles on vacation. One morning I looked out the window and unconsciously started looking for distinctive spaces of sky between the tree leaves so I could hunt for a piece that fit. I experienced that phenomenon long before Tetris existed, only it was seeing lines of 6502 assembly code floating past my eyes in my sleep, or even when in bed awake but trying to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/14 "2018-07-24T14:12:38Z")
ā€œAfterimagesā€. Try this: [https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/afterflag.html](https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/afterflag.html) Pretty cool! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/15 "2018-07-24T20:32:16Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > ā€œAfterimagesā€. > > Try this: [https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/afterflag.html](https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/afterflag.html) > > Pretty cool! Not remotely the same thing. These images last for many hours afterwards, are not reverse color, are not even static (you can get a ā€œslide showā€ of such images). Etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/16 "2018-07-24T20:57:58Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Not remotely the same thing. These images last for many hours afterwards, are not reverse color, are not even static (you can get a ā€œslide showā€ of such images). Etc. Ahh okay, but from what some respondents are saying, thereā€™s a visual persistence aspect to their experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-vision-phenomenon/818417/17 "2018-07-24T23:08:12Z")
Vision does not happen in the eyes. It happens in the brain. The eyes and optic nerves are nothing more than a conduit for the brain to receive informationā€“much of which it ignores. This is why you can ā€œseeā€ things with your eyes closed, or see things that are no longer there. To the brain, it makes no difference.