Rubbing one's eyes is not entirely innocuous, as it can induce or worsen astigmatism.
How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
131–140 of 241 posts
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#132A bit OT: I'm curious what, if anything, people here see when their eyes are closed while falling asleep. I usually see one of the following: 1. Just the brown/black of my eyelids, with some slight variations in darkness. 2. A blob of white light. It looks a lot like what you'd see if you were in a dark room with a sink full of water that is draining, and there was a drop of some glowing dye in the water which is cir…
> 1. Just the brown/black of my eyelids, with some slight variations in darkness.
Anyone else here see a lot of colors (mostly purple/maroon on navy/black) that phase in and out when they close their eyes?
Or do I just have yet another expensive problem to fix now?
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#133A bit OT: I'm curious what, if anything, people here see when their eyes are closed while falling asleep. I usually see one of the following: 1. Just the brown/black of my eyelids, with some slight variations in darkness. 2. A blob of white light. It looks a lot like what you'd see if you were in a dark room with a sink full of water that is draining, and there was a drop of some glowing dye in the water which is cir…
Since adulthood: If sleep deprived I will hallucinate anything, probably close to #3, otherwise #1
Interesting, for me it happens sometimes if I'm badly hungover. Instantly after closing my eyes, I start seeing cartoon-like shapes that rapidly mutate to something different. Usually it's faces of people. The shapes are very dim, and black and white. But I really do "see" them as they were there.
Now I want to attempt using the technique in TFA to improve this "skill", also interested in using this for falling asleep faster and maybe even to successfully using the WILD technique for lucid dreaming, which I was never able to do.
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
well where is your mental imagery? can you not do it with your eyes open?
>well where is your mental imagery? In my mind. >can you not do it with your eyes open? I can. I just don't actually, physically see it in front of me. I can imagine a red apple, and I can imagine it's shape and color and the spots on its skin and I can even mentally feel it, smooth or bruised, I can even taste it, but just in my mind.
I think I have the same kind of garden variety visualization experience that you have. There is bound to be a spectrum where some people's mental imagery is virtually non-existent on one end, and it's very lucid and persistent on the other. The people who come out of the woodworks online claiming they have a mental heads-up display, like AR superimposed on their vision, make me raise an eyebrow. I'd be more inclined to believe that a child had such an experience, but by the time we're adults, our brains have normally found it more advantageous to be squarely grounded in baseline reality.
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
At this point I'm fairly certain aphantasia doesn't really exist (or is extremely rare), but what exists is a disconnect between what people understand the word "visualising" to mean I cannot project an image of an apple into my brain, but I can be aware of what an apple looks like and have that awareness move and rotate the apple. I would never call it visualising though
From talking to people, I would say it exists on a spectrum. I can imagine an apple, the color and texture of its skin, how it feels to touch it, its weightiness, its smell, the sound it'll make when I bite into it, as well as its taste and texture. I can imagine it at different levels of ripeness too, although I don't have the same amount of information for all of them. For me it's so clear that it's almost as good…
I watched a video from a woman talking about her aphantasia. I was struck by the fact that she is an avid reader and enjoys fiction. She said she processes descriptive text as facts. Like, if she read, "Raindrops glistened in the afternoon light as they rolled off the red maple leafs, falling peacefully to the lush green grass, below," she would just have a list of facts in her head and no visualization. It makes me wonder what such a person would write, themselves. How could they put together a scene?
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#136So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…
Apparently, people are on a spectrum when it comes to this [1]. Super interesting!
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/08/science/minds-eye-mental-...
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really. Not for any reason? Please elaborate.
Every eye doctor I've known has also said to never rub your eyes, for any reason. Here's just a short, non-exhaustive list, as to why rubbing your eyes is a bad idea: * it's very easy to scratch your cornea * touching your eyes or eyelids is an easy way to introduce infections * rubbing can increase the pressure on your eyes, which can cause damage * rubbing to try to get something out of your eye risks more damage,…
Your eyes and nose are the physical openings by which germs can enter your body. Your hands are the part of your body that picks up the most germs. Never touch your eyes with your hands. I do rub/scratch them sometimes, but I use my shirt.
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#138The thing I've never understood about aphantasia is the emphasis on closing your eyes. Does it really matter? I can visualize an apple (to borrow the example from the frequently shared meme) whether my eyes are open or closed. It's not like my eyelids are some necessary visual backdrop for visualization.
At this point I'm fairly certain aphantasia doesn't really exist (or is extremely rare), but what exists is a disconnect between what people understand the word "visualising" to mean I cannot project an image of an apple into my brain, but I can be aware of what an apple looks like and have that awareness move and rotate the apple. I would never call it visualising though
It’s very easy to identify it. What happens when you read a work of fiction? Do you have a rich visual representation of characters, if you draw or if you knew how to draw would you be able to draw everything you see? Colors, scenery, light or dark?
Some people don’t get any imagery when they read books. For me it’s so vivid that I read maybe 30 pages an hour if not less.
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#139Back in the early 2000s when I was growing up, I wanted to increase my IQ. Image streaming was actually one of the techniques that came highly recommended. Mega genius would also suggest this and similar other techniques. Bit nostalgic to see this here.
Re: How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)
#140So, wait, are people normally actually seeing images, with their eyes, when they imagine what something looks like? Like, the brown-blackness of the back of your eyelids gets replaced with something you actually see, like it's projected there? I can imagine what something looks like, and I guess I sort of 'see' it, but closing my eyes doesn't make it any more real. It doesn't seem to involve the eyes or any part of t…
Yes, it apparently most people can. I cannot, and I also found out relatively recently. For example, you can ask "most people" to imagine a car, and then follow up by asking "what color did you imagine it?". For me and you this question would not make any sense, but you'll find out that "most people" find it completely normal and answer it without questioning you.
If I had been posed this question I could imagine it having gone two different ways. First, I could approach it as remembering, maybe not a car I saw yesterday, but a generic idea of some type of car. For example if I thought about a Japanese pickup or a Lamborghini, I would probably answer the following color question with "white" and "orange", because for me those are stereotypic colors that "come with" the memory. Perhaps many people think in this way and thus assume the color obviously is there.
The second way would be to abstractly build a car in my mind. Start with four tires, put a rough shape of a frame on it — lets make it a sedan. If I proceed this way, I probably would not choose a color, at least not early on. Like many in this thread, this is how I usually imagine things, as "wireframes". The color/texture is not there because I have not assigned it. I can't vividly see the things I imagine, but they can still have color just like they can have shape.