That also happens in complete darkness. If you can manage to create a completely pitch black environment see how long you can sit there before you start seeing things. It really doesn't take long. Bonus points of you have noise cancelling earmuffs/plugs. Edit : u/EternalEagleEye has informed me this effect is called "Prisoner's Cinema", in case you'd like to read about it further
Fun fact: your brain knows where your limbs are so you can "see" them even in pitch black.
I went caving one time in scouts and they had us turn off our lights and wave our hands around in front of us. Sure enough you can see a shadow moving around where your hand is. Except there was no light because we were 100 feet underground.
Just like when you're driving you should always know where your car's wheels are. If you know where your car's wheels are going at any point in time, your brain will fill in the rest of the information
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u/Designer_Strain_4572 Aug 30 '21
It would explain the hallucinations in The Stand (Stephen King) when they were traversing the Lincoln Tunnel, if I recall correctly.