If you tightly shut your eyes, what is the scientific name given to the lights you see flashing around?
470659
Depends on which ones.  Some are phosphenes--they're made more visible by pressing on the eyeball, but that can be harmful to the eyeball--do NOT do it!  Others are simply afterimages--artefacts of how the eyes process incident light before sending the signal to the brain.
66691
I believe the actual terminology for this is called "persistance of vision"\n\nIn loose terms, it's very much like when you stare at the black dot on the green apple for 15 seconds, then close your eyes, then with your eyes closed you see a white spot and a red apple.\n\nsee : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision
1117127
YOur eyes are closed.
1114288
You could be right, at the verge of brain shut down you may see bright lights.  That's like they also say they feel warm, well that's from the loss of nerve cell connection, for an example, pinch a nerve, hot pain. So they could feel their nervous system shutting down.
289936
your eyes when you blink
381087
I read about this.  It happens in bright light because the optical and nasal nerves are so close together.  The brain is receiving all these signals from both that are so close together that it can sort of trick itself.
823890
NO, because our eyes are normally closed when we sleep... Blinking occurs naturally and is triggered by our brain when it detects that the the eye needs moisture. Blinking at some point can trigger our tear glands to release liquid to help avoid dryness.\n\nThe phenomenon you see when a sleeping person seem to jitter his eyes when close is called R.E.M. or Rapid Eye Movement. This usually happens when a person is dreaming in his sleep.
739082
i was standing right close to the window one night and the lights were turned off ... i was all alone  in my bedroom .. at that time i was only sixteen and i lived on my parents farm .. so there were houses near by  for at least a good block .. or two .. and then every thing went quiet and suddenly a big round light swiched by .. it was a whitish blue light .. i couldnt blink for a few moment s and all i could see was white .. i got so  scared i screamed .. and there was nothing .. no one beleived me ..
439
yes - close your eyes.  see - its night time!
115588
look at a really really bright light
904924
I see the exact same thing.  And I thought it was only me that saw these !  You can see them outside in bright daylight if you look up at a bright sky for long enough.  They look like myriads of little white flashes moving around in all directions.  I don't think they are caused by an electrical overload in your retinas or optical nerves because I can also see them at normal light levels and even in a completely dark room.  If you stare at one spot for long enough (about 5 to 10 seconds) they will start to appear.   It even works when staring at a white computer screen (it doesn't have to be particularly bright), or even a blank sheet of paper !\n\nI have to say I don't see them unless I look for them, but when I do they are always there.  And, contrary to previous answers, they don't go away after a time, in fact they get stronger if anything.  If I don't blink and stay staring at the same spot for 1 to 2 minutes, eventually my entire field of vision is covered with these lights - they are all I can see until I move my eyes at which point they disappear completely !\n\nThey remind me of the 'static' noise that you see on a TV set that isn't tuned to any station, so they could be due to electrical noise in your optic nerves, or even in the brain itself.  I'm glad it's not only me that sees them, I thought I was starting to lose my eyesight !\n\nIncidentally, there is another phenomena that is similar to this, when you stare at a bright light in a dark room.  This effect looks like a myriad of bright streaks emanating out in straight lines in all directions away from the light source.  More like a halo than worms or static noise.  I think this is definitely something to do with the way your eye functions, but I have never seen any explanation for it.  Has anyone else experienced this ?
790658
Since you already have some real answers, I can't resist.\n\n"Turn off the light when you leave the room!"\n\n -- My dad
596543
turn off all of the lights so that it is pitch dark in your house. Open the drapes. If it is lighter outside (full moon, street lights, etc) no one will be able to see in. Then take off all of your clothes and masturbate while looking outside. of course, you may want to go outside and look in just to make sure you can't see in. \nor... go buy a cucumber. ;-)
157911
use a blacK light and see what happens
663768
all the mistery is in RBG (red blue and green).\nit really depends in conditions.\nif u r really in a dark place u will see black coz non of the 3 cones (red, blue and green) are activated.\nbut, many time blue, green or red color can be seen for a while of closing eye- that may be because of presence of some light which activates specific cones or bleaching of certain cones- bleaching makes u to see a object even though it is not there.\n NOTE: black is actually not a color because we see it when non of the color cones are activated.\nin addition, we see white when all the color cones are activated.\n  i have a lab (PC) activity for u if u want to know how it works. \ngo to:\nhttp://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/f_exhibits.html\nchoose the option mix-n-match. u need to download shockwave to run the programme.
1096572
I used to get this a lot when I used to regularly stay awake for 70+ hours in a stretch (I had problems and didn't sleep much).  Basically the way that the eyes work involves two main pigments (often called visual yellow and visual purple) which are photosensative (like camera film) and they constantly renew themselves, if you have not slept enough sometimes the production of these visual pigments slows down a bit leading to shapes and specks in th peripheral vision.  \nHave a great day and get more sleep!
23157
Sometimes in the dark you see what you want.\n\nthats my favorite one