As I understand the kinect's operation, it sends out a grid of dots, each dot being spread out by a few inches or so by a few feet away. In order to get a grid after-image, assuming that IR could do that, you'd have to be inches away from the device so that several different beams were all entering your eye through your pupil.
Now, it's possible there is something actually going on here, but my money is on psychosomatic. Seems way more plausible to me.
Not necessarily. Kinect beams could reflect of your room onto your monitor, and back onto your retina. I think you might be able to achieve an afterimage in a laboratory, if you tried really hard:
- find some material that is fluorescent in visible light when irradiated by the IR that Kinect emits
- fill your room with it.
- seriously darken your room.
- play a game that has a very dark screen.
- stare at the screen for a couple of minutes while Kinect is active, keeping your eyes focused on one spot.
Of course, all of these are unlikely to be applicable here. Also, you will probably have lots of trouble finding that fluorescent material, if it exists at all; IR light is lower-energy than visible light, so the material will have to do multiple-photon absorption.
And I still find it impossible to believe that "spots resemble a vertical or slightly diagonal line and really resemble a sort of one dimensional test pattern (with various symbols, kinda like various geometric shapes). " would be visible via coincidence.
Psychosomatic. All the way. (I personally believe OP is a troll).
I think the "test pattern" is in the poster's imagination.
I worry permanent effects of bright IR sources myself... I tend to avoid looking at Sick or Velodyne scanners when I'm around them too.
