<p>I have encountered anecdotal evidence that sometimes when people meditate, as they progress to higher levels, they sometimes experience flashing white light behind the eyes. And I have also experienced this, in a different context.</p>
<p>Google is only showing me results related to ocular phenomena like glaucoma or something. I am interested in knowing if there is any recognition of a neural phenomenon, rather. I think I once heard someone say it has to do with dopamine.</p>
<p>The hypothesis would be for some reason as the brain decides to increase its dopamine production (if people doing concentration meditation are possibly training their brain to have higher levels of concentration ability, which may mean increasing the amount of dopamine production), somehow as it creates more neural structure to do that, white flashing behind the eyes is somehow a byproduct of a neural kind of “spurt” of energy, for a moment.</p>
<p>The white flashing can come in short bursts yet can be fast. People say it is behind the eyes, it is a close eyed phenomenon, not a hallucination, and not something that appears to be in your visual field, but is somehow more directly in your mind/brain.</p>
<p>Can anyone suggest any known documentation of such a phenomenon or a similar one - a visual phenomenon that is not some kind of ocular malady, not the general idea of a hallucination, but a byproduct of a very particular neural phenomenon of some kind?</p>

<neuroscience><vision><meditation><dopamine>
Is there a name or any research on white flashing behind the eyes?
Julius Hamilton
# Is there a name or any research on white flashing behind the eyes?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-02-09)

I have encountered anecdotal evidence that sometimes when people meditate, as they progress to higher levels, they sometimes experience flashing white light behind the eyes. And I have also experienced this, in a different context.

Google is only showing me results related to ocular phenomena like glaucoma or something. I am interested in knowing if there is any recognition of a neural phenomenon, rather. I think I once heard someone say it has to do with dopamine.

The hypothesis would be for some reason as the brain decides to increase its dopamine production (if people doing concentration meditation are possibly training their brain to have higher levels of concentration ability, which may mean increasing the amount of dopamine production), somehow as it creates more neural structure to do that, white flashing behind the eyes is somehow a byproduct of a neural kind of “spurt” of energy, for a moment.

The white flashing can come in short bursts yet can be fast. People say it is behind the eyes, it is a close eyed phenomenon, not a hallucination, and not something that appears to be in your visual field, but is somehow more directly in your mind/brain.

Can anyone suggest any known documentation of such a phenomenon or a similar one - a visual phenomenon that is not some kind of ocular malady, not the general idea of a hallucination, but a byproduct of a very particular neural phenomenon of some kind?

**Tags:** neuroscience, vision, meditation, dopamine


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