phosphene
1
9.9
A light you see when you rub or press your eyes
- noun
- /ˈfɑsˌfiːn/
- Specialized
:
fosfeno
- He's been having flashes—phosphene afterimages, blank moments of calm in his day—for about a month now, but this is the spiritual equivalent of a hydrogen bomb.
- visual phosphene
Examples
-
After staring at the bright light, he experienced phosphenes when he closed his eyes.
-
When stimulated, each electrode produces one to four closely spaced phosphenes.
Academic text (2003) -
As the blood eventually drains from the occipital lobes, a brilliant white light is generated, known as a phosphene (Foerster 1931; Brust and Behrens 1977).
Academic text (1994) -
Rubbing her eyes too hard caused a wave of phosphenes to dance across her vision.
-
While applying pressure to his closed eyelids, he could see the colors of phosphenes swirling.
Surface Forms
phosphene singular
phosphenes plural
Etymology
Phosphene comes from Greek parts phos meaning 'light' and -phene meaning 'to show', like in the words photo or phosphorus. So a phosphene is like a 'light that appears', which helps explain why you can see flashes even when no light is entering your eye.