Why do I see more light when not looking at it?

Question

I noticed late at night that I have much better light perception when I'm not looking directly at the source. It's normally very dark in my room at night and I woke up to realize that the door frame was lit up by some external light (keep in mind no lights were on outside but there are windows with no curtains that lead out to the streets). When I looked directly the the door frame I could no longer see the very dim light. when i looked nearby again I could tell that in my peripheral vision I could still see the light. What is happening and why? should I go to an optometrist? do others experience thesame thing?

Tomas · Accepted Answer

This is to do with the light receptors on your retina. Basically evolution made it so that at night things your eye detects more black and white than colour and these receptors work better in the periphery of your vision rather than straight in front of you.
As far as I can understand we have two different receptors: 'rods' and 'cones'. One type for colour and one for black and white (can't remember which is which sorry).

So we have evolved so that at night time when the world becomes black white potential threats creeping up on us from behind or to the side are more easily detected.

Anonymous · Answer

basically there are light sensitive photo receptors in our eyes that detect light and movement!so even when your not looking at a specific thing your photo receptors still pick it up! it could be  that your light receptors are misplaced!

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Why do I see more light when not looking at it?

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