The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

The Tetris Effect

I had been playing Bubble Spinner compulsively for about two weeks.

There is a phenomenon known as the Tetris Effect where a person who has been playing Tetris excessively begins to dream of coloured shapes. I have no recollection of a dream of the game but when I woke up this morning I saw this phosphene.

The phosphene appeared to rotate but any shift of attention reset the image. By continually shifting attention, e.g. in a figure of eight, I was able to hold the image stationary.

I played the game some more in the evening. When I went to bed, on closing my eyes I saw this phosphene.

There were barely visible dark lines flickering against the background.

When I woke up the next morning I saw this phosphene.

The phosphenes were bothersome and I was worried that they might get more persistent so I stopped playing the game. The phosphenes did not appear again.

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