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Mindblowing optical illusion leaves you ‘color blind’ for a few seconds – here’s what it’s doing to your brain
A MIND-BENDING optical illusion has given millions of viewers a one-second jolt of adrenaline with a baffling brain trick.
Watch a black-and-white photo erupt with color in this incredible TikTok video.
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"This video will show you just how remarkable your eyes truly are," the started.
The instructions are simple: stare at the white dot at the center of the photo's negative for 20 seconds.
"We're trying to adjust the sensitivity of the light receptors in your eyes to the different colors of the image," the poster said.
When the original black-and-white reappears, your brain briefly perceives the image in full color - how did that happen?
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The effect hinges on creating an afterimage - a short-lasting illusion that acts like a fleeting stamp on our field of vision.
During the 20 seconds of concentrating on the white dot, the cones in your eyes responsible for interpreting color are desensitized.
reported that the eyes will run out of photopigments, which convert the sight of light rays into electrical impulses for the brain to compute.
"Once the image is taken away, the least-depleted receptor cells — which had been looking at the darkest part of the image, taking in the least amount of light — jump into action at full strength," they wrote.
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"Your visual system is overwhelmed by their input, and briefly interprets it as a negative of the original image, even when it's not there."
In the TikTok, the scene explodes with color and a purple van can be seen parked in front of a shrub-lined park against a blue sky.
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"The effect will likely break as soon as you move your eyes away from the white dot," the poster added.
The video has almost two million likes from stunned viewers and fans.
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