[theothermkn]

I made a minor personal discovery recently along these lines and would love to hear from others here if they can reproduce it: I can "see" my hands with my eyes closed. That is, if I hold my hands out in front of my face with my eyes closed, I can see a faint image of them in the eigengrau. Further, if I then move my hands outside of my normal field of vision, (say, to my side) the image persists; I can "see" them outside my normal field of vision. While this effect is strongest for my hands, it does extend somewhat to my legs and feet if I pay extra attention.

I'm curious if others can reproduce this for themselves?

My hypothesis is that the visual areas of the brain can get involved when the eyes are closed, and can pick up and interpret the proprioceptive information spatially. It may be that it's always happening, but that the "image" of one's hands is swamped by visual data when the eyes are open. Another hypothesis, I suppose, is that the visual expectation of the hands may be registering or, rather, its absence. You're "seeing" the expectation of the hands that should be there, but are blocked by your eyelids.

I should say that the sensation of seeing the hands is pretty fine, extending to the motions of the fingers. That said, it's easy enough to lose the image or forget it is there.

[t0mas88]

Funny, a few comments above, before reading yours I experienced exactly that.

I closed my eyes in the dark and tried to touch my two index fingers together in random places instead of just pointing at my nose. Can confirm that I also "see" the position of hands and fingers.

I think what we "see" is mostly out brains doing spatial reasoning and using part of the same systems as used for visual perception.