# What do you see when you close your eyes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526 "2005-06-16T12:50:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/1 "2005-06-16T12:50:27Z")
I’m just curious. Not in your minds Eye, but if you were to close your eyes, right now, what do you see? What about in a darker situation, eyes closed, hand over your eyes? What about in a dark room? Are there any differences? If you see things, do they change? If you see things, is this normal or just an occasional thing? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/2 "2005-06-16T13:23:11Z")
_I can’t tell you but know it’s mine…_ If I’m not in the dark, warm brown; in sunlight, red. In dark, black. Afterpatterns of whatever I was looking at just before I closed my eyes, especially if it was bright. Circular or oval patches of color, usually not very bright. (As opposed to a very interesting array if I push gently against different parts of my eyelid; I once happened upon a whole book of illustrations of what you see when you push against your closed eyelid. It had never occurred to me, in fact, that what I see would be the same as what you see, etc, but apparently it is) Sometimes the sence of zillions of tiny stars or twinkling lights against the dark. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/3 "2005-06-16T15:14:53Z")
Reminds me of a conversation a friend of mine had in the past: Do blind people see “blackness” or do they see “nothing” — and is it different is for someone blind at birth or blinded later in life? Anyway, sorry for that, in answer to your question, upon closing my eyes in the light, I see alomst a brightness with flashing strobe-like effects of random shapes/lines, etc. When I put my hands over my eyes, I definitely see “black” with the bright shapes more detailed. I’ll have to see what happens tonight in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/4 "2005-06-16T15:22:02Z")
I see flowers and rainbows and puppies… And if I poke myself in the eyes with my fingers, I see fireworks! Oooh! **Grand Finale**! \*poke poke poke poke poke \* ---
**Author:** ![Gundhilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@Gundhilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundhilde)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/5 "2005-06-16T15:37:40Z")
Mostly a dark tan color, with a lot of red-orange hatching. Also, some nebulous blue thing slowly descending from the right corner…Ok, I’m gonna stop closing my eyes now before the Blue Thing attacks! ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/6 "2005-06-16T17:35:40Z")
> [@Daithi Lacha](#): > > Oooh! **Grand Finale**! \*poke Oooooh! > [@](#): > > poke Aaaah! > [@](#): > > poke Oooooooh! > [@](#): > > poke Ahhhhh! > [@](#): > > poke \* OHHHHHHHH! _applauds_ Ever notice how if you close your eyes for a long time in bright sunlight, so the insides of your eyelids look red, your red receptors get burnt out and everything gets a puke green cast? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/7 "2005-06-16T18:19:29Z")
All kinds of gray and yellow-ish sparkly geometric patterns on a nearly black background. I assume it’s neuron noise and there all the time. I figure I don’t see it when my eyes are open because the “signal” of the real world overwhelms the “noise.” It looks a lot like the scintillating scototomas that migraine sufferers often describe, except unlike a migraine sufferer, the patterns cover my entire field of “vision.” [http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Early\_Pictorial\_Representations.html](http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Early_Pictorial_Representations.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/8 "2005-06-16T18:38:38Z")
Same as most of the others…hazy colors, flashes, roaming splotches of color. At other times the scenery gets more interesting! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/9 "2005-06-16T19:11:36Z")
Pretty much more of the same here–roaming blotches of colour and something similar to TV static across my entire field of vision. I’m with **UncleBeer** , it’s probably neuron noise because I do notice it when my eyes are open as well (the darker it is, the easier I notice it). ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/10 "2005-06-16T19:49:14Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > Pretty much more of the same here–roaming blotches of colour and something similar to TV static across my entire field of vision. I’m with **UncleBeer** , it’s probably neuron noise because I do notice it when my eyes are open as well (the darker it is, the easier I notice it). I was once told by my physiology professor that the reason this happens is not so much neuron noise, as it is that the brain only knows how to interpret signals from the eye in one way…images. So if you are poking your eye, the signal of pressure from the eye is read by the brain as just anthoer vision signal, and interprets it that way. Even if you are not poknig your eye, there is still wind blowing in it, blood vessles in the eyelid pulsing, etc… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/11 "2005-06-16T21:05:52Z")
I once _painted_ that under-the-eyelids vista, in busy splotches of dark brown, crimson, and bright yellow paint. (I might have used a little black too, I don’t remember.) It worked, in the sense that if you stared at it under a bright light for a little while and then closed your eyes, that was pretty much what you’d see afterwards. 🙂 ---
**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:** [June 16, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/12 "2005-06-16T22:51:58Z")
Highly-symmetric, colourful, changing kaleidoscopic patterns against a black background - sort of concentric, like a persian rug. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/13 "2005-06-16T23:29:55Z")
Similar to others. When I’m in total darkness, I see blasts of color growing out of previous color. White, light green, blue, dark red, lighter red, orange, purple, deep, poisonous green, then white again. The blasts are each shaped different, the same color won’t have the same shape. The shape is roughly similar to the water splash pattern you’d see when a boulder crashes into a pond or lake. Its not like fireworks, in that they are solid sheets of color, not sparkles. Although, as someone else said, I get sparkles when I put pressure on my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/14 "2005-06-16T23:30:34Z")
I see a weird type of static against an almost black background. The static is sort of like the kind on a tv set, but much more distant and fine-grained. Also, instead of the static being just white, there are colors. I wonder if we all see the same thing and our brains perceive it differently? Or are we really seeing different things? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/15 "2005-06-16T23:47:23Z")
What a relief to know, after all these years, that others experiance similar things after closing their eyes. Like many others, mine is like a disorganized static, white or reds and yellow-oranges, after closing in well-lit situations. However, in darkness, I can apply a small amount of uniform pressure (palms pressing on both eyes) and see a red-and-black checkerboard. It is not straight lines though, more like a tablecloth blowing in a slow breeze that covers the field of vision. Thanks so much for sharing. Now I know. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/16 "2005-06-16T23:49:09Z")
I tend to see greenish blobs that alter slowly against black, when I don’t see R’lyeh. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/17 "2005-06-17T05:49:32Z")
I was thinking about starting just such a thread just the other day, when for some reason I was really paying attention to what I see when my eyes are closed. It’s a sort of washed-out black field, with yellowy swirls (as if you mixed pale yellow and black watercolours very badly) that move over it in patterns. They tend to come in in waves from the peripherals of my field of vision and coalesce around one or two points, getting brighter but small until they vanish. If I try hard I can exercise some degree of control over the movement. I’m sure it’s just an artifact of the brain trying to make sense of what it’s seeing, but it amuses me sometimes when I’m really bored! ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/18 "2005-06-17T15:44:54Z")
Thanks, folks. Any of you migrane prone? I’d never really understood about migrane auras but the link provided above by **UncleBeer** is of particular interest. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/19 "2005-06-17T16:53:07Z")
I see a fractal-like spiral composed of gold-and-black-striped spheres, diminishing toward the center, against a gold background. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/20 "2005-06-22T14:28:00Z")
I have headaches a lot, and more recently they’ve turned into full blown head under the covers migraines. But for years I’ve seen a number of the things described here, from “neural noise” to the full out patterns fractal or fractal-warped checks - not sure how or if they are related. At least I ain’t nuts. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526.md?page=2)