Sensory Processing-Visual

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I don't think I have significant sensory issues, mostly being unable to differentiate between two conflicting conversations. However I have had two incidents happen recently that I'm curious about. One was when I was driving. I saw a red car some distance ahead of me. I glanced away for a second and glanced back and suddenly the red car was right in front of me and I slammed on my brakes. Except it wasn't right in front of me, it was where it was before. When I had glanced back I just saw this big flash of red. Today I placed a bottle of water on a counter. When sometime later I glanced at it, it looked like it was going to tip over and I made a motion to grab for it before I realized it wasn't moving. Is this how people experience visual processing anomalies?

Your experience is different from mine. I haven't had anything like what you described.

Instead, I am extremely sensitive to bright or flashing light, so much so that I usually just shut my eyes or move away from the source. I also experience "extra" visual stimuli, so that objects often appear to shimmer, sparkle, or glow when I look at them. And to make matters more interesting, I have synesthesia, so many visual stimuli are accompanied by sounds or textures.

I understand that sensory processing in general is very idiosyncratic, but would you consider what I described as an example of my visual processing going momentarily awry? God, I talk like a geek.

Hmm, I'm not sure. I'm sort of familiar with the water glass thing though. I've had that happen too, and the opposite. (Thinking something was falling/tipping/sliding, or thinking it's not when it is.) That one I think might be a sensory processing issue because it seems to have to do with not being able to interpret movement in relation to the movement of your head/body.

I don't know what the red flash could have been.
Probably useless info: The other day I kept seeing bright flashes of rainbow. But only for that day, and not all in the same location. So weird.

Regarding the red flash, I think I saw the red car again but my brain interpreted the red car as being much closer than it was. When I said red flash I realize it kind of sounds like I mean red light but I think I just saw the car. I think it was a brain scramble from what I've read about sensory processing. It can go screwy in such a variety of ways. Well, at least it doesn't happen all the time.

I can't seem to recall a specific incident but I think I've experienced something similar. Your description evokes some kind of vague recollection but perhaps it's just a case deja vu. Do you flinch easily? I can remember being teased in school because I would flinch easily (kids would pretend to lunge at me just to see me react).

Last edited by marshall on 18 Nov 2009, 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You talk like a geek? You do not. You should hear how I talk when I'm discussing math or science.


That wasn't really on topic. But this is:

That's how I am.

You talk like a geek? You do not. You should hear how I talk when I'm discussing math or science.


I mean phrases like 'momentarily awry"-Sometimes I forget what century it is.

I have that kind of thing occasionally happen, and I think it is simply because the first picture had not fully "developed" or registered before I had looked away, thereby later leaving room for a momentray "spike" of some kind (like a minor lightning strike) causing a mis-read.



That would not seem to me to be so much of a spatial issue as an issue of some kind of "mental vertigo", even there even is such a thing!

Im mostly "hypnotized" by lights, but usually when there is a stark contrast between light and dark (ie a back road w/o lamp posts while driving at night). As far as regular lights, i get this odd "angel" effect where I see what is emitting the light, but the rays branch out from it in wing-like patterns. Oddly, i never get this effect when watching movies that use lights in dark scenarios.

I think I experience something similar to what the OP is describing. If I see sudden movement, or movement in my peripheral vision, or unexpected movement, the source of the movement is always perceived as closer than it is. So I will duck when a bird flies over me, because my brain thinks it's about to crash into my head; and when my brother waves his cutlery around at the dinner table, I'll jump halfway out of my seat, because it looks like I'm about to have my eye poked out with a fork.

The red car thing is a visual processing issue. Your brain is not processing quickly enough to follow the car all the way so you get breaks in your vision. This is something that used to happen to my oldest son. If someone threw him a ball he would see it leave the persons hand but the speed of his visual processing would not allow him to see it all the way though. So the breaks would occur and by the time his brain caught up the ball was right there or had hit him in the face. No wonder many ASDians a frightened of balls.

Because this is happening when you drive this could be dangerous. My son says his Behavioural Optometry exercises and Irlen's lenses have vastly improved this issue for him.

I have no depth perception, people behind me at intersections hate me because I won't turn into traffic without a huge opening. I've been blind in one eye since before I started driving, and always assumed this was why. Then I learned about AS depth-perception issues, and it appears I have an extra helping because of that. I also can't catch something thrown at me.

What you describe sounds like a visual motion aftereffect. If you google for "motion aftereffect" and look at one of the rotating spirals for half a minute and then look away, is the illusionary motion you see similar to your previous experiences? Do you remember what you had been seeing before you looked back at the car or bottle?

saywhatyamean- I can certainly see why that would be dangerous, but the red car was actually far ahead of me. Of course my braking suddenly could be a problem.

TiredGeek- I have some depth perception problems when I am very tired. I had amblyopia as a child and my right eye trailed off. It was assumed to be a muscular problem back then and I had to do exercises where I crossed my eyes to strengthen the muscles. Now if I'm very tired my eyes don't work together. But I have to be really tired. Once I was googling to find out why I am completely unable to see those magic eye pictures (even if someone tells me what the image is)and there was a link about amblyopia. They now know it is a neurological problem. The brain doesn't get adequate input for that eye so it just gives up on it and I guess the muscular problem is an aftereffect. I wasn't completely blind in that eye but I probably wasn't seeing as well. Anyway surprise surprise-this kind of thing shows up with ASD's. If I'm driving and it's dark I find myself slowing down for a stoplight only to discover it's still a block away.

Garriond I will look that up. I'm wondering if the incident with the bottle was a depth perception thing. When I am really exhausted, my right eye kind of rolls around (lovely) and it makes inanimate objects (like sofas) look like they're breathing. I wasn't that tired that day but the bottle seemed to shift suddenly like if you were to look at something and then push your eye to one side. The red car-I probably just glanced down at the speedometer or out the side window. The bottle -I saw someone walking towards me that I could see through the bottle. I tend to think the bottle was a depth perception problem and the red car-well, I'm going to look up what you suggested.

This is more like what I experience. I am very sensitive to flashing lights and bright light. Hot sunny summer days just give me migraines, I hate sunny days.

When I see things that I really have a feeling for, I say that they resonate with me. Actually, a thing that resonates can even be an idea or a thought. At any rate, things that resonate sort of throb and glow. I don't try to explain this to normals. It would merely confirm their conviction that I am crazy.