Editing Ball lightning (section)

=== Hallucinations induced by magnetic field ===
Cooray and Cooray (2008)<ref>[http://www.el.angstrom.uu.se/meny/artiklar/ball%20lightning.pdf Could some ball lightning observations be optical hallucinations caused by epileptic seizures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016080716/http://www.el.angstrom.uu.se/meny/artiklar/ball%20lightning.pdf |date=16 October 2013 }}, Cooray, G. and V. Cooray, ''The open access atmospheric science journal'', vol. 2, pp. 101–105 (2008)</ref> stated that the features of hallucinations experienced by patients having [[epileptic seizure]]s in the [[occipital lobe]] are similar to the observed features of ball lightning. The study also showed that the rapidly changing magnetic field of a close lightning flash is strong enough to excite the neurons in the brain. This strengthens the possibility of lightning-induced seizure in the occipital lobe of a person close to a lightning strike, establishing the connection between epileptic [[hallucination]] mimicking ball lightning and thunderstorms.

More recent research with [[transcranial magnetic stimulation]] has been shown to give the same hallucination results in the laboratory (termed [[magnetophosphene]]s), and these conditions have been shown to occur in nature near lightning strikes.<ref name="Peer 2010">{{cite journal |author1=Peer, J. |author2=Kendl, A. |doi=10.1016/j.physleta.2010.05.023 |journal=Physics Letters A |volume=374 |title=Transcranial stimulability of phosphenes by long lightning electromagnetic pulses |issue=29 |pages=2932–2935 |year=2010 |arxiv=1005.1153|bibcode = 2010PhLA..374.2932P|s2cid=119276495 }}
* Erratum: {{cite journal |journal=Physics Letters A |volume=347 |issue=47 |pages=4797–4799| doi=10.1016/j.physleta.2010.09.071|title=Erratum and addendum to "Transcranial stimulability of phosphenes by long lightning electromagnetic pulses" [Phys. Lett. A 374 (2010) 2932] |year=2010 |last1=Peer |first1=J. |last2=Cooray |first2=V. |last3=Cooray |first3=G. |last4=Kendl |first4=A. |bibcode = 2010PhLA..374.4797P |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/19/ball_lightning_actually_magno_brain_images/ Ball lightning is all in the mind, say Austrian physicists], The Register, 19 May 2010.</ref>
This hypothesis fails to explain observed physical damage caused by ball lightning or simultaneous observation by multiple witnesses. (At the very least, observations would differ substantially.)

Theoretical calculations from [[University of Innsbruck]] researchers suggest that the magnetic fields involved in certain types of lightning strikes could potentially induce visual hallucinations resembling ball lightning.<ref name="Peer 2010" /> Such fields, which are found within close distances to a point in which multiple lightning strikes have occurred over a few seconds, can directly cause the [[neurons]] in the [[visual cortex]] to fire, resulting in [[magnetophosphene]]s (magnetically induced visual hallucinations).<ref>{{cite web |author=Emerging Technology |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2010/05/11/203417/magnetically-induced-hallucinations-explain-ball-lightning-say-physicists/ |title=Magnetically Induced Hallucinations Explain Ball Lightning, Say Physicists |work=[[MIT Technology Review]] |date=2010-05-11 |access-date=2020-07-06}}</ref>