Science
Related: About this forumThis Crazy Optical Illusion Will Disappear Before Your Very Eyes
Now you see it, now you...
CARLY CASSELLA 11 APR 2018
A crazy optical illusion is breaking the internet this week and no, it's not just another version of that dress.
The mind-bending illusion, which was posted to Reddit just yesterday, has already received over 48,000 upvotes.
This time, you can watch as you lose the ability to perceive colour.
Seriously, just look at the black dot in the centre of this image for 10-20 seconds and you'll notice the colours begin to steadily disappear, pixel by pixel.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/crazy-new-optical-illusion-breaking-internet
Leghorn21
(13,524 posts)got strange...and I dug it the most!!
Sending around!
forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)It helps if you don't blink, don't move your eyes, and relax.
KT2000
(20,577 posts)I wonder if it is the eyes' fatigue.
forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)But here's the catch: if you focus the retina on one tiny point in your visual field (like a black dot), the retina's light sensitive cells will become used to the unchanging scene, and they will gradually become desensitised to the stimulus.
Before you know it, the stimulus will begin to fade and take on the appearance of the background. In neuroscience, this concept is known as "filling-in".
And if you still don't get it, consider this: "filling-in" is exactly why you don't notice the presence of your nose, even though it sits in the very center of your vision every single minute of every single day.
Judi Lynn
(160,530 posts)We get so accustomed to it, it can seem downright creepy when we suddenly notice one of our eyes, usually not both, is looking right at that beak!
It can almost startle a person.
Thank you, very much, forgotmylogin.
forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)But I agree it is startling. I've noticed that the only time I see my nose is on the rare occasion there's a stray hair or eyelash stuck on it that changes its usual, unseen form!
Liberty Belle
(9,535 posts)and I did focus on the correct image.
sinkingfeeling
(51,457 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,530 posts)Scroll down 3 paragraphs and it will appear again, but with a tiny dot in the interior, about the size of a pencil dot, like a period.
Hope it will work for you.
sinkingfeeling
(51,457 posts)to change anything about the color.
Neema
(1,151 posts)Maybe that has something to do with it?
forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)That includes the tiny, nearly involuntary eye twitches called "saccades" (as I know now from the article!)...if your eyes move even a fraction, the colors won't disappear.
If you're in any way stressed or having issues at all with your eyes, it might be hard to do that. It reminds me of when I used to spin in an office chair for fun as a kid, or when you look out the side window of a moving car at close trees or scenery: if your eyes try to focus on everything that passes sideways, you will become dizzy and disoriented and possibly ill; if you can relax your eyes and let everything whoosh past in a blur without them trying to focus and pick anything out, you won't get as disoriented or ill.
I found it was a little easier with one eye closed; at monitor distance, my eyes felt like they were crossing and wanted to each take turns focusing singly on the dot, which causes eye movement. If that doesn't work, perhaps try moving a little farther away so your eyes can both focus on the dot without difficulty. Be patient, relax and breathe, and let all the muscles in your eyelids relax also. It might be more comfortable to let them naturally close a little more than normal like you are sleepy which removes any extra pull that will stimulate and move your eyeball muscles.
It's very subtle, but quite startling when it happens. The first time it does, your eyes will probably reflexively move and the color will return.
Dem_in_Nebr.
(301 posts)Like an acid trip -- not that I've ever been.
forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)I recently bought a keyboard that lights up blue, but the cracks between the keys also light up. When the keyboard is on the lower pull-out drawer and I am looking at my monitor so the blue lights are in my lower peripheral vision, the lit lines pulse a little bit distractingly as my eyes naturally move while reading text. I'd suppose it's this same phenomenon for the illusion where the blue lights are hitting new parts of my retina that haven't had a chance to fade them out yet.
Javaman
(62,530 posts)JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)The sensitivity of the retinal cells never changes. The effect described happens in the brain.
The same thing happens with trueness of color. When the nature of light changes, natural light from the sun versus artifical light, the color of objects changes dramatically. That's why we had to use different films for indoor and outdoor. Our brains compensate for that change automatically, and it happens in the brain, not in the eyes.
Iggo
(47,552 posts)Interesting thing: The first time I tried it, only the left half faded away. However, all subsequent tries have yielded the promised result.