A city-scape. Half of the image is normal, whereas the other half is pixelated, illustrating what Visual Snow looks like.

New Directions in Visual Snow Research

References & further information

Presented to Graduate Researchers in Psychological Sciences, May 2023.

References.

  • Braceros, K. K., Asahi, M. G., & Gallemore, R. P. (2021). Visual Snow-Like Symptoms and Posterior Uveitis following COVID-19 Infection. Case Reports in Ophthalmological Medicine, 2021, e6668552. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6668552

  • Costa, R. M., Campos, P., Wiborg, M., Rebôlo, C., Wittmann, M., & Kornmeier, J. (2022). Prevalence of visual snow and relation to attentional absorption. PLOS ONE, 17(11), e0276971. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276971

  • Eren, O., Rauschel, V., Ruscheweyh, R., Straube, A., & Schankin, C. J. (2018). Evidence of dysfunction in the visual association cortex in visual snow syndrome. Annals of Neurology, 84(6), 946–949. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25372

  • Kondziella, D. (2022). Visual snow syndrome and the emperor’s new clothes. Brain Communications, 4(4), fcac178. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcac178

  • Latini, F., Fahlström, M., Marklund, N., & Feresiadou, A. (2021). White matter abnormalities in a patient with visual snow syndrome: New evidence from a diffusion tensor imaging study. European Journal of Neurology, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.14903

  • Lebel, S., Mutsaers, B., Tomei, C., Leclair, C. S., Jones, G., Petricone-Westwood, D., Rutkowski, N., Ta, V., Trudel, G., Laflamme, S. Z., Lavigne, A.-A., & Dinkel, A. (2020). Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. PLOS ONE, 15(7), e0234124. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234124

  • McMullan, R. D., Berle, D., Arnáez, S., & Starcevic, V. (2019). The relationships between health anxiety, online health information seeking, and cyberchondria: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 245, 270–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.037

  • Mehta, D. G., Garza, I., & Robertson, C. E. (2021). Two hundred and forty-eight cases of visual snow: A review of potential inciting events and contributing comorbidities. Cephalalgia, 0333102421996355. https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102421996355

  • Puledda, F. (2020). Understanding Visual Snow Syndrome: A Clinical Characterization and Functional Imaging Approach. King’s College London.

  • Schankin, C. J., Maniyar, F. H., Digre, K. B., & Goadsby, P. J. (2014). ‘Visual snow’ – a disorder distinct from persistent migraine aura. Brain, 137(5), 1419–1428. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awu050

  • Schankin, C. J., Maniyar, F. H., Sprenger, T., Chou, D. E., Eller, M., & Goadsby, P. J. (2014). The Relation Between Migraine, Typical Migraine Aura and “Visual Snow”. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 54(6), 957–966. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.12378

  • Solly, E. J., Clough, M., Foletta, P., White, O. B., & Fielding, J. (2021). The Psychiatric Symptomology of Visual Snow Syndrome. Frontiers in Neurology, 12, 1233. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.703006

  • Thompson, A. C., Goodbourn, P. T., & Forte, J. D. (2023). Perceived severity of Visual Snow Syndrome is associated with visual allodynia. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 63(4), 494–505. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.14455

  • van Dongen, R. M., Alderliefste, G. J., Onderwater, G. L. J., Ferrari, M. D., & Terwindt, G. M. (2021). Migraine prevalence in visual snow with prior illicit drug use (Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder) versus without. European Journal of Neurology, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.14914

Read our published work.

In the first study of my PhD, referenced in this talk, we showed that:

  • Photophobia (visual allodynia, measured via the Leiden Visual Sensitivity Scale) predicts the severity of Visual Snow Syndrome

  • Duration of Visual Snow Syndrome is associated with perceived severity: the longer people have had VSS, the less severe it seems

  • People with VSS experience elevated sensory sensitivity compared to normative means, across a range of measures