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Stare at the dot. (classic & x-post from whoadude) (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by beleaves

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[–]hyukthesane 102 points103 points ago

If anyone's interested, these kinds of illusions are due to the opponent process by which the human visual system interprets light.

Light is detected by cone cells in the eye, of which there are three types, configured to best detect red, green, and blue wavelengths (and also rod cells which are monochromatic and mostly detect low intensity light - why your night vision is largely black and white). In the opponent theory light is perceived through channels of red vs green, blue vs yellow and black vs white (black and white is rod cells, yellow is red and green cells equally). Thus, fatigue of one channel after looking at an image for long enough makes it seem like the opposite channel colour is there when looking at the same image with different colouring.

This is also why some colours are impossible for humans to perceive, such as blueish-yellow or reddish-green.

[–]Pentazimyn 2 points3 points ago

Thank you for the explanation. I learned this in Psychology but could not remember all the details.

[–]Alex_C 8 points9 points ago

You. You need more internet points.

[–]nowayride 1 point2 points ago

So.. it's orangish? When I tried a green/red panel it just looked like dull orange.

[–]moxiedrinker82 197 points198 points ago

I've been scarred by too many trolls online, every time I see one of these "Stare at the screen" thing I think something is going to pop out and startle me.

[–]kamikazemonk 64 points65 points ago

I'm sure those things will get voted down in this subreddit.

[–]smartphone-redditor 9 points10 points ago

use this website.

I usually check suspicious gifs on 4chan with it. No surprises anymore. and never open a url with .swf at the end..

[–]unicorn_zombie 7 points8 points ago

That's racist! .swf files are files too

[–]jackganleybrah 4 points5 points ago

My granddad fought hard to keep this country safe from the gawd damned .swf's, and I'll be damned if a hippie like you tried to defend 'em!

[–]cormega 2 points3 points ago

I actually enjoy those. I always end up laughing at myself after shitting myself.

[–]TheOnlyAlex 88 points89 points ago

When I first saw it, I was like "Holy crap, that bar is filling in with black!"

[–]iagox86 9 points10 points ago

You aren't the only one :-)

[–]Pamperpull 2 points3 points ago

Good I thought I was the only one.

[–]theonefree-man 16 points17 points ago

It's even weirder when you focus on the dot after it changes for a few seconds, and the color slowly starts fading.

[–]MissKatbow 6 points7 points ago

I focused on the dot for a while after, then when I blinked it disappeared immediately and was just the black and white.

[–]stezer 1 point2 points ago

Me too! I've done it a few times now, stays colour right up until the point I blink

[–]iPatjo 2 points3 points ago

I focused on the dot and saw the colors, looked away and saw them fade. Then I started looking at the dot again and saw the colors slowly return.

[–]theayrab 2 points3 points ago

I found that if you hold your gaze on the spot after it shift, it'll remain in color until you look away from the dot or blink

[–]sunnydaybunny 15 points16 points ago

Holy shit

[–]comanon 9 points10 points ago

When the picture goes to black and white, it looks like it's color, you can look away from the dot and it's obviously gray scale. Look at the dot again and the color comes back. Awesome, I never noticed that about these pictures before.

[–]cormega -3 points-2 points ago

Doesn't it kind of tell you this in the gif?

[–]beleaves[S] 19 points20 points ago

holy crap, cake day!

[–]moxiedrinker82 21 points22 points ago

Enjoy it! It may be the last one you ever have..

[–]P4TTYCAKES 8 points9 points ago

Who needs to post a cat on your cakeday when you've found the best illusion I've seen forever! Also happy cakeday!

[–]beleaves[S] 5 points6 points ago

Thanks!

[–]The2500 2 points3 points ago

God damn it, I took my eyes off the dot.

[–]tsmith944 3 points4 points ago

holy poo

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

I don't understand what prevents this from just being a gif with the color changing. Someone explain please.

[–]kamikazemonk 7 points8 points ago

It's quite easy to proof that this isn't a gif with the color changing. Just simply don't stare at the dot while the timer goes up. When the image changed, stare at the dot. You will see that it's just a grayscale image.

The color comes from some kind of fatigue of previous image. The eyes trying to compensate to the same image with its negatives. Something to do with eye's self correcting nature so it doesn't see something that doesn't move (imperfection in your eye lense).

If you want some more info, check out this cool video.

[–]omoteeoy 0 points1 point ago

In my image processing class, my professor said it had something to do with the saturation of the cones and rods of the eyes. I was too wowed to pay too much attention.

[–]kyara_no_kurayami 3 points4 points ago

It is a gif with the colour changing. The picture first has all those washed-out colours, and you stare at the dot and that has some weird effect on your eyes, then the picture abruptly changes to black and white but because you are satring at the dot and your eyes have been effected by the weird colours from before, you see the black and white image as having colour. Then as soon as you look away from the dot, the illusion is shattered.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

"holy fuck" this is exactly what I said after looking away and back again to realize the image was in black and white

[–]chinkpak 1 point2 points ago

You can extend the time it stays in color by really focusing on the center; then it eventually fades to grey! Like I'm adjusting my tv or something!

[–]ThisAverageGuy 1 point2 points ago

Even works if you're colourblind. Cool.

[–]fuyunoyoru 1 point2 points ago

I love this kind of illusion.

[–]Shadowcrow01 -1 points0 points ago

I didn't look at the dot and the colors appeared. Downvote.

[–]mcclutch7 0 points1 point ago

Yea but once you move your eyes from that spot it immediately goes black and white

[–]dan2872 1 point2 points ago

I completely failed to focus correctly the first time through, resulting in the image still appearing black and white to me...so I said, fuck it, do it again and thus found it much more amazing.

[–]mcclutch7 0 points1 point ago

I can keep my eyes open for long periods of time, but once I'm supposed to stare at a damn dot, I have an urge to blink

[–]AndersonVarejao 1 point2 points ago

Checked the comments just to make sure it's not a screamer..

[–]nowayride 0 points1 point ago

My eyes jitter a lot on these kinds of images. It's like, after a second or two they want to twitch a tiny bit off of the dot.

[–]forrest1993 1 point2 points ago

Mind officially blown