A few months ago (I think; time is a flat circle anyway) I wrote about how some people — including myself — cannot see Magic Eye pictures.
However, an optical illusion has been bending minds over the last 24 hours, and it this one is user-friendly – and user-scary.
Stare the above image, just stare at it, and the Paddle Pop-type image will fade into white.
This phenomenon is called Troxler’s Fading and, to quote my mate Wikipedia: “When one fixates on a particular point for even a short period of time, an unchanging stimulus away from the fixation point will fade away and disappear.” It was discovered in 1804, back when they only had dial-up internet.
Here’s another example, called the lilac fader. Stare at the black cross.
Also, I promise I will write about the first band to write a song named ‘Lilac Fader’. Email me.
