Good Description of "Brain Shivers"
Tuesday February 22, 2005
A reader sent me this description of "brain shivers", which is one of the best I have seen:
It seems as though there are actually two different symptoms which are being described under the category of brain shivers.
The first is the 'electric shock'. In this case, there is an extremely brief moment where consciousness is disrupted with an overwhelming jolt that feels like an electrical shock. There may be a sound associated with the event, or even an instantaneous flash of light. After experiencing an overwhelming sensory event such as this, a person may be slightly disoriented for a few seconds. These shocks, in some people, can be precipitated by an unexpected/startle event. For example, suddenly noticing a vehicle which may collide with your own can cause the shock sensation.
The second is a kind of visual motion dizziness. This is much harder to describe, but it is though the brain isn't correctly tying together the various sensory inputs from motion. Particularlly, visual. This, perhaps is similar to the effects seen in early virtual reality environments with low visual refresh rates, and a slight lag between the physical sensation of movement and the visual result of that movement. The result is that sudden movements result in an unpleasant dizzy type sensation.


Comments
Thanks!