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Prisoner's cinema is the phenomenon of a "light show" of various colors that appear out of the darkness. The light has a form, but those that have seen it find it difficult to describe. Sometimes, the cinema lights resolve into human or other figures. The phenomenon is reported by prisoners confined to dark cells and by others kept in darkness, voluntarily or not, for long periods of time. It has also been reported by truck drivers, pilots, and practitioners of intense meditation. Astronauts and other individuals who have been exposed to certain types of radiation have reported witnessing similar phenomena. Scientists believe that the cinema is a result of
phosphene A phosphene is the phenomenon of seeing light without light entering the eye. The word ''phosphene'' comes from the Greek words ''phos'' (light) and ''phainein'' (to show). Phosphenes that are induced by movement or sound may be associated wit ...
s combined with the psychological effects of prolonged lack of exposure to light, and others have noted a connection between the form the lights take and neolithic
cave painting In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 ye ...
s.


Popular culture

The pilot episode for the original ''Twilight Zone'' series, "
Where Is Everybody? "Where Is Everybody?" is the first episode of the American anthology television series ''The Twilight Zone''. It was originally broadcast on October 2, 1959, on CBS. It is one of the most realistic ''Twilight Zone'' episodes, as it features no s ...
," depicts elaborate, fully realistic hallucinations by a test subject undergoing prolonged isolation and sensory deprivation as part of research into human space travel.


See also

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Charles Bonnet syndrome Visual release hallucinations, also known as Charles Bonnet syndrome or CBS, are a type of psychophysical visual disturbance in which a person with partial or severe blindness experiences visual hallucinations. First described by Charles Bonnet in ...
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Closed-eye hallucination Closed-eye hallucinations and closed-eye visualizations (CEV) are hallucinations that occur when one's eyes are closed or when one is in a darkened room. They can be a form of ''phosphene''. Some people report CEV under the influence of psychede ...
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Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
ing *
Dark retreat Dark retreat (Allione, Tsultrim (2000). ''Women of Wisdom''. (Includes transcribed interview with Namkhai Norbu) Source(accessed: November 15, 2007)) is a spiritual retreat in a space that is completely absent of light, which is an advanced pract ...
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Eigengrau Eigengrau (German for "intrinsic gray"; ), also called Eigenlicht (Dutch and German for "intrinsic light"), dark light, or brain gray, is the uniform dark gray background color that many people report seeing in the absence of light. The term ''Ei ...
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Ganzfeld effect The Ganzfeld effect (from German for "complete field"), or perceptual deprivation, is a phenomenon of perception caused by exposure to an unstructured, uniform stimulation field. The effect is the result of the brain amplifying neural noise in or ...
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Hypnagogia Hypnagogia is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep: the ''hypnagogic'' state of consciousness, during the onset of sleep. Its opposite state is described as the transitional state from sleep into wakefulness. Mental ...
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Isolation tank An isolation tank, sensory deprivation tank, float tank, float pod, float cabin, flotation tank, or sensory attenuation tank is a water filled, pitch-black, light-proof, soundproof environment heated to the same temperature as the skin, developed ...
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Phosphene A phosphene is the phenomenon of seeing light without light entering the eye. The word ''phosphene'' comes from the Greek words ''phos'' (light) and ''phainein'' (to show). Phosphenes that are induced by movement or sound may be associated wit ...
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Sensory deprivation Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can al ...


References


External links

*Th
opening sequence
of the TV series ''
Magic Shadows ''Magic Shadows'' was a 30-min Canadian television series produced by the TVOntario public television network hosted by Elwy Yost that ran on weekday evenings from 1974 to the mid 1980s. The format was that the host would present classic featur ...
'' includes an artist's depiction of "prisoners cinema" illustrating its rapid succession of half-formed figures and images (from 0:38 to 0:49 in the linked video).
Why does watching Phosphenes make me fall asleep?
Salvatore Cullari, Lebanon Valley College {{Visual phenomena Forteana Visual system Hallucinations