From Out of the Corner of Your Eye
Apr 20, 2016 1:04:48 GMT -6
Nugget, Mystic Wanderer, and 1 more like this
Post by Michigan Swamp Buck on Apr 20, 2016 1:04:48 GMT -6
Many people who have experienced a paranormal occurrence known as a "haunting", or an encounter with a "ghost", have reported seeing ghostly things from the corner of their eyes. People will catch fleeting glimpses of things moving in their peripheral vision only to have them disappear when viewed directly. I have seen such things myself including a brief glimpse of an event a few minutes before it happened. These "corner of the eye" type of visions are most often the case during the daylight, however, such stories claim that at night, inside of a darkened room, illuminated specters and darkened shades become directly visible.
Some might say that such is the flight of fancy of our minds when faced with the diminished information we obtain from the extreme limits of our vision. Others, like myself, would entertain the idea that perhaps the human eye, in the outer areas of vision, has the ability to sense things outside of the range of what is considered normal. There is a whole universe of things we can't see directly, but perhaps under the right conditions we can see the unseen.
Given that the human eye has "rod cells" that "see" in low light conditions and that these rods are concentrated in the peripheral areas of the retina as opposed to cone cells, that sense colors in bright light and are concentrated in the center, it would seem that the rods are mostly sensing these ghosts.
So what special properties do rod cells have that could help to see these other worldly sights? Here are some facts about rod cells.
New Wold Encyclopedia
Wikipedia Link
So, if we were to build a camera with similar properties of the rod cells of the human eye, it would have to be very sensitive to low light levels in around 498 nm wavelength (between visible cyan and green light). But there is something else that may come to play here, a 100 millisecond delay. This may require a very specific video frame rate for the video to catch what happens during that delay.
New World Encyclopedia
Wikipedia Link
Here is some food for thought though, flashes of light may allow humans to "see" infrared light. So the frequency of flashes of the photon bursts may be more important than the frequency of light itself.
ZME Science Link
Some might say that such is the flight of fancy of our minds when faced with the diminished information we obtain from the extreme limits of our vision. Others, like myself, would entertain the idea that perhaps the human eye, in the outer areas of vision, has the ability to sense things outside of the range of what is considered normal. There is a whole universe of things we can't see directly, but perhaps under the right conditions we can see the unseen.
Given that the human eye has "rod cells" that "see" in low light conditions and that these rods are concentrated in the peripheral areas of the retina as opposed to cone cells, that sense colors in bright light and are concentrated in the center, it would seem that the rods are mostly sensing these ghosts.
So what special properties do rod cells have that could help to see these other worldly sights? Here are some facts about rod cells.
A rod cell is sensitive enough to respond to a single photon of light, and is about 100 times more sensitive to a single photon than a cone cell. Since rod cells require less light to function than cone cells, they are therefore the primary source of visual information at night (scotopic vision). Cone cells, on the other hand, require tens to hundreds of photons to become activated.
Additionally, multiple rod cells converge on a single interneuron, collecting and amplifying the signals. However, this convergence comes at a cost to visual acuity (or Image resolution) since the pooled information from multiple cells is less distinct than it would be if the visual system received information from each rod cell individually. The convergence of rod cells also tends to make peripheral vision very sensitive to movement, and is responsible for the phenomenon of an individual seeing something vague occur out of the corner of his or her eye.
Additionally, multiple rod cells converge on a single interneuron, collecting and amplifying the signals. However, this convergence comes at a cost to visual acuity (or Image resolution) since the pooled information from multiple cells is less distinct than it would be if the visual system received information from each rod cell individually. The convergence of rod cells also tends to make peripheral vision very sensitive to movement, and is responsible for the phenomenon of an individual seeing something vague occur out of the corner of his or her eye.
Experiments by George Wald and others showed that rods are most sensitive to wavelengths of light around 498 nm (green-blue), and insensitive to wavelengths longer than about 640 nm (red).
So, if we were to build a camera with similar properties of the rod cells of the human eye, it would have to be very sensitive to low light levels in around 498 nm wavelength (between visible cyan and green light). But there is something else that may come to play here, a 100 millisecond delay. This may require a very specific video frame rate for the video to catch what happens during that delay.
Rod cells also respond more slowly to light than do cone cells, so stimuli received by rod cells are added over about 100 milliseconds. While this makes rods more sensitive to smaller amounts of light, it also means that their ability to sense temporal changes, such as quickly changing images, is less accurate than that of cones (Kandel et al. 2000).
However, if multiple flashes of sub-threshold light occur during the 100 millisecond period, the energy of the flashes of light would aggregate to produce a light that will reach threshold and send a signal to the brain.
However, if multiple flashes of sub-threshold light occur during the 100 millisecond period, the energy of the flashes of light would aggregate to produce a light that will reach threshold and send a signal to the brain.
Flicker fusion thresholds decline towards the periphery, but do that at a lower rate than other visual functions; so the periphery has a relative advantage at noticing flicker.[4] Peripheral vision is also relatively good at detecting motion.
Here is some food for thought though, flashes of light may allow humans to "see" infrared light. So the frequency of flashes of the photon bursts may be more important than the frequency of light itself.
In some special conditions, the human eye can indeed detect infrared light according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
“We experimented with laser pulses of different durations that delivered the same total number of photons, and we found that the shorter the pulse, the more likely it was a person could see it,” Vinberg explained. “Although the length of time between pulses was so short that it couldn’t be noticed by the naked eye, the existence of those pulses was very important in allowing people to see this invisible light.”
“We experimented with laser pulses of different durations that delivered the same total number of photons, and we found that the shorter the pulse, the more likely it was a person could see it,” Vinberg explained. “Although the length of time between pulses was so short that it couldn’t be noticed by the naked eye, the existence of those pulses was very important in allowing people to see this invisible light.”
