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Jackie Marano's picture

Seeing while daydreaming

     One topic I have been thinking about that is semi-related to our discussion to optics and 'seeing' this week is daydreaming. I find this phenomenon really fascinating. Maybe this is not the case for everyone, but when I day dream, my eyes are opened (I am likely staring), but I am not really seeing...that is, not until I snap out of it. It is not that I perceive blackness when I daydream (that is not the case at all!), but somehow what I am 'seeing' in my daydream or thought overrides my ability to actually see (the kind that involves light sources, the retina, etc). My eyes are still gaining input from light sources and sending messages to my brain (they're open!), but when I am in my daydream, as far as I am aware, I am not perceiving what is around me.

      I realize that the 'seeing' of daydreaming and the 'seeing' that is associated with the bending and perceiving of light can definitely be viewed as two different entities, but I do find it interesting that the 'fake' seeing competes with the 'real' seeing in some circumstances...or does it? Maybe I am leaping a bit too far with my assumptions...but I think to some degree the brain monitors both forms of seeing, and that sometimes there is interference between the two. Does the I-function do the daydreaming?

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