Usually, within 30 seconds, the cloudy swirls of colors will disappear entirely. The image should look completely white, thanks to a Phenomenon known as “Troxler’s fading.”
It was first discovered by doctor Paul Troxler of Switzerland in 1804, who was practicing in Vienna at the time. He noted the brain can’t pay attention to visual scenes that do not change.
This same effect happens when you put your socks on every day. When you are ready to put them on, you notice them. But as the day continues, you stop noticing the socks entirely. You are entirely focused elsewhere.
Why does this happen so effortlessly? In technical terms, Troxler’s fading can occur without any extraordinary stabilization of the retinal image in peripheral vision because the neurons in the visual system beyond the rods and cones have large receptive fields. Therefore, the small, involuntary eye movements made when fixating on something fail to move the stimulus onto a new cell’s receptive field, in effect giving unvarying stimulation.
This effect is happening in your brains, not your eyes!
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