phosphenen.
/ˈfɒsfiːn/, U.S. /ˈfɑsˌfin/ A subjective sensation of light produced by mechanical stimulation of the retina (as by pressure on the eyeball) or by electrical stimulation of various parts of the visual pathway.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > specks or sparks before eye
stars1598
synchysis1684
muscae volitantes1715
spot1785
phosphene1852
muscae1856
sparkling synchisis1859
spark1899
floater1902
1852 Lancet 19 June 604/1 [A prize of] £40 to M. Serres (d'Uzès) for his ‘Researches on Phosphenes’.
1872 T. H. Huxley Lessons Elem. Physiol. (ed. 6) ix. 222 Pressure on any part of the retina produces a luminous image, which lasts as long as the pressure, and is called a phosphene.
1881 J. Le Conte Sight i. iv. 67 Press the finger into the internal corner of the eye: you perceive a brilliant colored spectrum in the field of view on the opposite or external side,..[having] a deep-steel~blue center, with a brilliant yellow border... These colored spectra have been called phosphenes.
1916 Mind 25 205 The ‘phosphenes’, or sensations of light experienced when the eyes are closed, have been regarded by many as the sensational scaffolding on which the dream is built.
1967 New Yorker 23 Dec. 32/2 Now with your knuckles rub your eyelids, seeing The phosphenes caper like St. Elmo's fire.
1984 W. Gibson Neuromancer (1989) ii. iii. 52 And in the bloodlit dark behind his eyes, silver phosphenes boiling in from the edge of space.
1993 A. C. Clarke Hammer of God 132 His reward had been a nightmare display of images, always just beyond his ability to grasp properly—like the phosphenes that result from pressure on the eyeballs, but far more brilliant.
2002 New Scientist 23 Nov. 36/1 If an implanted chip can stimulate enough meaningful phosphenes in the brain, the theory goes, blind people will be able to see again.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1852