5 ms·

What is a perceptual distortion or aberration? Is it an umbrella term? What's included? Migraine auras? Vertigo? Seizures? Acid trips? I haven't been able to f

by metra 5y ago

What is a perceptual distortion or aberration? Is it an umbrella term? What's included? Migraine auras? Vertigo? Seizures? Acid trips? I haven't been able to find a precise definition.

meowface 5y ago
Not sure if there's a clear definition, but the article lists these as symptoms: >These early perceptual distortions included a heightened awareness of sound or color, uncertainty about the boundaries of one’s body, feeling that the world around them is tilting, and similar experiences.
ojnabieoot 5y ago
For me (as someone formally diagnosed with schizophrenia): as a child I had a lot of flickering lights/shadows and brief whispers/noises, horrible depth perception, frequent dizziness, and bad temperature coordination (sweating or shivering way too much in response to weather). One particular indication which I thought was universal but is apparently somewhat uncommon: visual “snow” in low light conditions, meaning that dark rooms look like grey TV static to me. (When my eyes are closed in the dark I usually just see black.)
- shrimpx 5y ago
  When I close my eyes I see "snow", and yes the same thing with my eyes opened in the dark. But this is normal, no? It seems like seeing pure black is abnormal. There will be some kind of noise on the optic nerve, it's hard to imagine it being hard "off".
  - sitharus 5y ago
    Seeing snow when your eyes are closed or in darkness is fairly typical from what I understand. Visual snow as a diagnosis is visible at least in reading-level light and against light backgrounds. I see snow against all colours in a typical office environment. It’s less noticeable in daylight but still there.
    - swagasaurus-rex 5y ago
      I've always had visual glows when I close my eyes. Not eye floaters, I only see those when my eyes are open. When I close my eye, I usually see an outline of bright/dark somewhat matching what I last saw, but desaturated and splotchy. If I keep my eyes close, the patches kinda drift around. It's kinda fun to watch sometimes but I get bored eventually open my eyes. I've always assumed its my eyes just adjusting to the dark, or maybe its residual light my eyelids can't filter out.
      - a9h74j 5y ago
        I always remember the term 'eidetic' and always think I am misremembering the correct term, but it is "eidetic imagery" I am searching for. To me this refers to the phenomenon of seeing above-threshold-of-perception patterns or motions, such as lava-like swirling. As you say, such things can be interesting for a time. This following link discusses the phenomenon in terms of phosphenes: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-do-i-see-patterns-when-i-close-my-eyes_b_7597438 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-do-i-see-patterns-when-i-... Arguably, there have been spiritual movements fueled by relative ignorace around these things, with gurus allegedly claiming that they enable these unexpected experiences for their disciples.
        Izkata 5y ago
        > with gurus allegedly claiming that they enable these unexpected experiences for their disciples I can voluntarily cause a burst of those color patterns by, after closing my eyes, relaxing all my facial muscles and letting my eyes go unfocused. Works best when trying to fall asleep, so I can imagine people unintentionally doing the same during, say, meditation and correlating it with their spiritual leader.
        a9h74j 5y ago
        A sort of natural prior is that when you close your eyes, it must be black, right? But it is not, as you observe. A sociologist who studied the spiritual cultures concluded there were many conformity-related behaviors at work. Oh, yea, I had the experience.
  - throwuxiytayq 5y ago
    Same thing here. Male/mid-30s and no psychotic symptoms, so unlikely to get them now, hopefully. I have always noticed audiovisual "brain glitches" every once in a while, but I think that's because I find it interesting to look for them...
  - soco 5y ago
    I guess the optic nerve should see the same in complete dark vs in darkness with eyes closed - if noisy then noise in both cases. But here we are talking about a significant difference between eyes closed and low light.

by metra 5y ago

What is a perceptual distortion or aberration? Is it an umbrella term? What's included? Migraine auras? Vertigo? Seizures? Acid trips? I haven't been able to find a precise definition.

meowface 5y ago

Not sure if there's a clear definition, but the article lists these as symptoms: >These early perceptual distortions included a heightened awareness of sound or color, uncertainty about the boundaries of one’s body, feeling that the world around them is tilting, and similar experiences.

ojnabieoot 5y ago

For me (as someone formally diagnosed with schizophrenia): as a child I had a lot of flickering lights/shadows and brief whispers/noises, horrible depth perception, frequent dizziness, and bad temperature coordination (sweating or shivering way too much in response to weather). One particular indication which I thought was universal but is apparently somewhat uncommon: visual “snow” in low light conditions, meaning that dark rooms look like grey TV static to me. (When my eyes are closed in the dark I usually just see black.)

shrimpx 5y ago
When I close my eyes I see "snow", and yes the same thing with my eyes opened in the dark. But this is normal, no? It seems like seeing pure black is abnormal. There will be some kind of noise on the optic nerve, it's hard to imagine it being hard "off".
- sitharus 5y ago
  Seeing snow when your eyes are closed or in darkness is fairly typical from what I understand. Visual snow as a diagnosis is visible at least in reading-level light and against light backgrounds. I see snow against all colours in a typical office environment. It’s less noticeable in daylight but still there.
  - swagasaurus-rex 5y ago
    I've always had visual glows when I close my eyes. Not eye floaters, I only see those when my eyes are open. When I close my eye, I usually see an outline of bright/dark somewhat matching what I last saw, but desaturated and splotchy. If I keep my eyes close, the patches kinda drift around. It's kinda fun to watch sometimes but I get bored eventually open my eyes. I've always assumed its my eyes just adjusting to the dark, or maybe its residual light my eyelids can't filter out.
    - a9h74j 5y ago
      I always remember the term 'eidetic' and always think I am misremembering the correct term, but it is "eidetic imagery" I am searching for. To me this refers to the phenomenon of seeing above-threshold-of-perception patterns or motions, such as lava-like swirling. As you say, such things can be interesting for a time. This following link discusses the phenomenon in terms of phosphenes: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-do-i-see-patterns-when-i-close-my-eyes_b_7597438 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-do-i-see-patterns-when-i-... Arguably, there have been spiritual movements fueled by relative ignorace around these things, with gurus allegedly claiming that they enable these unexpected experiences for their disciples.
      - Izkata 5y ago
        > with gurus allegedly claiming that they enable these unexpected experiences for their disciples I can voluntarily cause a burst of those color patterns by, after closing my eyes, relaxing all my facial muscles and letting my eyes go unfocused. Works best when trying to fall asleep, so I can imagine people unintentionally doing the same during, say, meditation and correlating it with their spiritual leader.
        a9h74j 5y ago
        A sort of natural prior is that when you close your eyes, it must be black, right? But it is not, as you observe. A sociologist who studied the spiritual cultures concluded there were many conformity-related behaviors at work. Oh, yea, I had the experience.
- throwuxiytayq 5y ago
  Same thing here. Male/mid-30s and no psychotic symptoms, so unlikely to get them now, hopefully. I have always noticed audiovisual "brain glitches" every once in a while, but I think that's because I find it interesting to look for them...
- soco 5y ago
  I guess the optic nerve should see the same in complete dark vs in darkness with eyes closed - if noisy then noise in both cases. But here we are talking about a significant difference between eyes closed and low light.