Recently, this picture has gone viral because reportedly only 1% of people are able to identify the animal in it. can you
We may have to come back to this later as we have a headache right now.
Are you ready for round two?
Do you know what the McCollough effect is? After staring at a colored grid with alternating lines, your brain begins to see black-and-white lines with a pinkish tinge or other hues. That’s a weird mental trick.
Simply staring at the center of two colored “induction pictures” for a few minutes or more while repeatedly rotating between them is said to produce the effect. Red or green lines are the most effective. You will then see vertical black and white lines as red, green, or pink in some places.
It can be lowered or raised by tilting the head 90 degrees. In fact, the impact can be canceled out by turning the induction images around and looking at them again. In certain situations, they take hours, days, or even months, depending on how long you look at the original induction images.
But is this really the case, and if so, what causes it?
The effect is named after Celeste McCollough Howard, the psychologist from the United States who discovered it.
She discovered the so-called “contingent aftereffect” – an illusion that persists in your brain for a long time – before anyone else.
Over the years, many studies have been done on the effect. Surprisingly, one of five groups of 16 people evaluated by two researchers in 1975 showed no attenuation of the effect after five days. Up to 2,040 hours later, or more than three months later, the effect was still more than half as strong in all four groups.
You can use the images below to see the effect for yourself. Keep in mind that it can temporarily impair your vision, but is primarily triggered when you see vertical or horizontal lines later. It appears to be largely harmless. You decide.
So what is the cause? Well, that was the subject of some discussion. One of the three main schools of thought is that it has to do with the neurons in your visual brain. The third possibility is that it’s a withdrawal symptom, in this case, the absence of color, and the third is that your brain is trying to color correct the surroundings and it’s getting a little stuck.
In 1995, a very interesting investigation took place on it. Next, the researchers examined one patient who had suffered a severe brain injury.
The researchers concluded that “he was able to see colors but little else”
The patient reported that the effect remained effective when using a black-and-white grid after being shown red-green grids, even though he could not see them. The researchers therefore concluded that the effect most likely takes place somewhere between the eye and the brain or in the visual cortex.
This was supported by a thesis presented by Julien Ciroux at the University of Edinburgh.
He stated that “the processing mechanisms involved in ME [the McCollough effect] are mostly located in the primary visual cortex, although a change in this early area of ​​the visual system drives subsequent modification of the activity pattern of higher cortical areas.” “
The prevalence of impact has been investigated in some studies. In 1969, it was discovered that after-effects produced various red and green streaks.
Oddly enough, it was found that you would see green colors on the horizontal grids and red hues on the vertical grids if your induction image was green. These colors were inverted if a red induction image was used.
Even worse, the only colors that worked were red and green. “Colors close to pure blue and pure yellow that had little red or green content produced weak aftereffects,” the research says. To the best of our knowledge, there is no plausible reason why red and green are more effective than other colors in creating the illusion.
What about that pesky thing? According to another study, this could be because neurons in your visual brain respond more strongly to their “preferred orientation and spatial frequency,” which even suggests the rather interesting hypothesis that “checkered” (checkered) patterns—essentially two grids that overlap each other – were used in JPEG image format.
“Perhaps the efficiency of this kind of representation means that the visual system also uses something similar?” they speculated.
And that’s where we are at the moment. Your brain seems to be tricked in some way as if the visual cortex is doing something. However, nothing is known about the exact underlying mechanics. So it seems that this is primarily a trick of the brain, not a problem with our eyes.
The McCollough effect illustrates the fascinating interplay between visual perception and the processing capabilities of our brain. Named after psychologist Celeste McCollough Howard, this optical illusion shows how long-term exposure to certain colors can change our perception of black and white lines, making them appear colored. The effect not only emphasizes the complexity of the visual processing but also raises interesting questions about the underlying mechanisms in the game.Â
Research has shown that the McCollough effect can persist for a surprisingly long time, sometimes for days or even months. This suggests that our brains have a remarkable ability to adapt and respond to visual stimuli, even when the original stimuli are no longer present. Studies suggest that neurons in the visual cortex are likely responsible for this phenomenon, reinforcing the idea that our perception is a dynamic process rather than a fixed response.
As we continue to investigate the McCollough effect and similar phenomena, we are gaining valuable insights into the brain’s visual processing. These findings challenge our understanding of how we perceive the world around us and highlight the complexity of our sensory experiences. In a world where our visual input is constant, the brain’s ability to adapt and interpret this information in unique ways remains a fascinating area of ​​study that invites further investigation into the mysteries of human perception.