Optical Illusions: Fading Dot?

Optical Illusions: Fading Dot? How Does This Optical Illusion Work?

Step 1 Do The Optical Illusion!

Stare at the dot for awhile without moving your eyes or your head. The dot will gradually fade into the field of green. Some people find that the dot fades more rapidly if they stare blankly at the edge of the square. As soon as you move your head or eyes, notice that the dot reappears!

Comments

[cleage001]

För më thë ëntïrë grëën fädëd äwäÿ. LOL UMLAUTS

[superMacaroni]

Silly dot, y u no fade?

[DontShoot262]

AWESOME!!!!!

[skimmo]

I'm dyslexic its just looks like any other piece of text

[MoBaniS]

the little dot turns into a burning skull... he will kill me... no... no... OMG... help me... aaaaaahhhrgrggrekejk-;:,.-. .................................................. SORRY XD nice explanation!

[SFHandyman]

I lose the whole thing. The green fades away completely and I'm just left with a faint blue dot. It only stays gone for a second but it's pure white for a moment.

[Rock Soldier]

same with me, but both dots disappear at the same time...We must keep are unique gift secretive until the right time arises...

[Rock Soldier]

Staring at the dot makes both dots disappear, I was blind in the one area. How dare you...

[Rock Soldier]

(removed by author or community request)

[Rock Soldier]

It was cool though. I was only blind for like, a second at most it seemed like.

[kwalian]

It also seems as though the dark green circle gets bigger.

[ac1D]

i did not see the little dot fade, but i do see the big circle "grow"

[technopenguin]

For me, the little dot gets smaller and bigger over and over, same with the big green dot.

[thedragonmaster]

I agree

[Father Christmas]

is there a problem is the large green mass shrunk by about 50% when i stared at the dot? o.O

[Angeleyes997]

The second time I looked at the dot, it disapeared.

[Angeleyes997]

Every time I look at the dot, it looks like it is turning purple. No! I dont have sezers!

[sick-al]

you said "Some people find that the dot fades more rapidly if they stare blankly at the edge of the square" its a circle isnt it? or are my eyes dodgy?

[vailo]

I think that they accidentally find their blind spot. But when I stare at the dot, my eyes just get really.. really.. tired...

[Mitten]

I found that its more of an optical illusen if you stare at the middle dot and move your head back and forth. the "haze" grows and shinks.

[kaiga]

me too

[Laszlo]

The optic nerves, as well as your visual cortex, function best when the incoming information changes. After a few seconds with no change, and even more so after a couple minutes, the image the brain is able to construct deteriorates somewhat because is expecting data about changes in light levels, not continuous light levels. This is the same basic issue that prevents a frog from noticing the water it's sitting in is heating up very slowly. However, homosapian vision systems are far more sensitive and complex, so it is often difficult for us to notice. This can be very difficult to experience for many reasons, not the least of which is that our eyes, and even our bodies, constantly make very minute movements we aren't aware of. It takes extremely little movement to stimulate changes in what the retina can detect, and add to that the fantastic mastery the visual cortex has of regenerating an image from very, very little information. The same process can be demonstrated in a completely different way by observing video shot outside on a sunny day. A camera without the proper red filter, or automatic color adjustment, will produce video that is drenched in blue light from the sky. The human vision system adapts to this excess blue so well that when we go outside, we see no 'excess' blue at all, which is inaccurate, and is an illusion. If you CAN...stare at something that is not moving for a long, long time, without moving your eyes or blinking, and you can actually 'see' a lot of the image fade away completely. Then even the slightest movement of your eyes will bring it all back. Meanwhile, if you get the the fading away stage, anything in your line of sight that does move will stand out tremendously. This is how many animals see the world, especially in very dim light.

[jacksteal4]

wait I looked again and it got smaller

[jacksteal4]

when I look at it it doesn't shrink...... it gets all deformed like it is being tortured

[itsmanofpopsicle]

my eyes hurt!

[!Andrew_Modder!]

This is not an 'instructable' this is just a little trick... >:-|

[ac1D]

a little trick could be a illusion, a instructable explain or show how to build something. this, at my opinion, is a instructables.

[Vertigo666]

It pulsates. very calming.........................................................

[gyromild]

Heh.. perhaps i was hoping a little bit more explanation on why it happens.. :)

Anyway..
This site is great in explaining / demonstrating optical illusions.. (credit to Michael Bach)

And i think this is somewhat similar to the Lilac Chaser? (correct me if I'm wrong)

[FrenchCrawler]

Technically, this should be posted in the forums...

[krazy]

didn't work for me or my hubby.. i think its really like one of those things that works on semi color blind people because then the 2 colors would fade much easier then it would just any ol body. just like one of those test the eye doc gives you when you go in for a vision test.

[Magnelectrostatic]

this doesn't work for me instead I look at a dim light in a very dark area and EVERYTHING goes dark