The presence of an object (or even my own finger) near the center of my forehead causes a tingling sensation, which can even shift directions (but still, always centered on my forehead) as the object moves.
Same, well, in my case, right above the nose, between the eyes would be the epicenter (so around the parietal eye?). I have no good explanation for it either. When I was a child I assumed it might be a magnetic sense, though that wouldn’t fit well with any random (non magnetic) material triggering it.
I observed too that it tends to get stronger and the zone where it triggers gets larger over time if I keep the stimulus going, to eventually plateau after maybe around 10s. It especially gets stronger if I concentrate on it, and if I gently move the object around, and may not trigger sometimes, if I am not paying attention to it.
Another hypothesis was that it’s muscles tensing (like a frown) because you’re bringing something in range of a dangerous zone (between the eyes. For some reason it often made me think about how you kill octopi, with a stab between the eyes). But this doesn’t appear to be triggered in other similarly dangerous zones.
It doesn’t have to be a primary physical sensation coming from your nerves for you to experience it. Note that you are always aware of the things near your face causing this sensation via other senses or intentions.
Also, humans don’t have a specialized parietal eye and the pineal gland in a primate is buried deep within the brain by the growth of the cerebral hemispheres up and around it. If anything it’s slightly to the back. Still probably has photoreceptors but they are not capable of any directionality and any light that got there would need to pass through several inches of scalp and skull and brain. I’d believe that the half a dozen or so cryptic rhodopsins recently discovered expressed throughout muscle tissue had something to do with response to light in a human sooner than that.
It happens with all kinds of material, so I don’t suspect it’s electrical. My hypothesis is that the photosensitive cells in my pineal gland are playing games with me.
The presence of an object (or even my own finger) near the center of my forehead causes a tingling sensation, which can even shift directions (but still, always centered on my forehead) as the object moves.
Does it happen if you do not know that it is there?
Yes.
(Edited: will re-test.)
Same, well, in my case, right above the nose, between the eyes would be the epicenter (so around the parietal eye?). I have no good explanation for it either. When I was a child I assumed it might be a magnetic sense, though that wouldn’t fit well with any random (non magnetic) material triggering it.
I observed too that it tends to get stronger and the zone where it triggers gets larger over time if I keep the stimulus going, to eventually plateau after maybe around 10s. It especially gets stronger if I concentrate on it, and if I gently move the object around, and may not trigger sometimes, if I am not paying attention to it.
Another hypothesis was that it’s muscles tensing (like a frown) because you’re bringing something in range of a dangerous zone (between the eyes. For some reason it often made me think about how you kill octopi, with a stab between the eyes). But this doesn’t appear to be triggered in other similarly dangerous zones.
It doesn’t have to be a primary physical sensation coming from your nerves for you to experience it. Note that you are always aware of the things near your face causing this sensation via other senses or intentions.
Also, humans don’t have a specialized parietal eye and the pineal gland in a primate is buried deep within the brain by the growth of the cerebral hemispheres up and around it. If anything it’s slightly to the back. Still probably has photoreceptors but they are not capable of any directionality and any light that got there would need to pass through several inches of scalp and skull and brain. I’d believe that the half a dozen or so cryptic rhodopsins recently discovered expressed throughout muscle tissue had something to do with response to light in a human sooner than that.
Oh my god I thought I was the only person.
It goes away if they make contact. Is it static electricity?
It happens with all kinds of material, so I don’t suspect it’s electrical. My hypothesis is that the photosensitive cells in my pineal gland are playing games with me.
That thing’s dead center in the middle of your head, no particular spot would be terribly much more sensitive (other than shooting bright light in through your ears).
I have the same, though it seems to be stronger when the finger is right in front of my nose. It always stops if the finger touches me.