Test your vision

September 13, 2006

http://www.mercola.com/2006/aug/10/more_illusions_to_test_your_vision.htm

More Illusions to Test Your Vision

Your eyes can occasionally be fooled and you may perceive something that is really not there. We call these optical illusions and they can be an amusing break from our hectic schedules. According to common definition, an optical illusion is:

A visually perceived image that is deceptive or misleading.

Visual perception of a real object in such a way as to misinterpret its actual nature.

An optical phenomenon that results in a false or deceptive visual impression.

Yet, despite which definition is preferred, the phenomenon of an optical illusion remains the same.

Rapid Colored Afterimage

A perfect example of how your eyes can be deceived through images is through rapid colored afterimages. (This optical illusion is just one of 55 "Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena.")

With the rapid colored afterimage illusion in particular, the viewer will notice a circle of magenta dots -- one of which disappears briefly -- rotating around a circle. While there is absolutely no green in this circle of dots, with good fixation, the viewer will begin to see a strong greenish color whenever the magenta dot disappears. Eventually, it will appear as though there is a rotating green spot.

But that's not all. If the viewer's gaze is really steady, all of the magenta dots will disappear, leaving nothing but the rotating green spot.

Don't believe it? Then check it out for yourself below!

What to See

Below you see a circle of blue-violettish (=magenta) patches, one of which briefly disappears, circling around.

Let your gaze rest on the central fixation cross, but observe with your "inner eye" the patches just when they disappear. With good fixation, you should see a strong greenish color whenever the violet patch has disappeared.

When you are fixating well, after a few cycles you will actually see a rotating green spot! If your gaze is really steady, the magenta patches will disappear, leaving only a rotating green spot!

Michael Bach June 5, 2005

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Optical illusions are one of my favorite diversions -- they are not only fascinating, but are a fun way to test your vision.

If you can't see clearly it is difficult to achieve your goals. One of my goals in life is to help you sift through the deceptive haze that the drug companies create to consciously deceive you about your health for their financial benefit.

Most of the articles on this site are selected from many thousands available that are published every week because they illustrate some important truth or principle that will help you achieve health independence.

I love the United States, but it is, unfortunately and for a variety of reasons that I will not address here, on a rapid downhill course. If you review any of the business periodicals (my favorite is Business Week) this will become patently obvious.

Health care is part of the decline.

It has simply gotten out of control and this is the first generation in which children will not live as long as their parents. That is, UNLESS we take the bull by the horns and say enough is enough, I will not stand for this nonsense any longer.

It is my goal to see the transition back to the roots of natural medicine occur in my lifetime. I have at least 50 years left to achieve it, and I remain very confident that we will achieve this goal together.

It needs to be done as a team, however, and I am in the process of aligning with thousands of health care professionals who share this vision and hope to develop a network to help coach you back to health. I hope to start phases of this program later this year.

In the meantime, you can help accelerate the process by forwarding this page to those you love and asking them to forward it to their friends and relatives.

You can easily do this by using the 'E-mail to a friend' button in the upper right-hand section of this page, just under the search box. You can make a larger impact if you write them a personal message in the e-mail as to why they should seriously consider the advice it contains -- and why they may want to to the newsletter.

Getting back to physical vision, if you haven't yet read the article on the Secrets of Regaining Your Vision please do as it can have a profound benefit for you or someone you love.

Like most over 50, I have had my own challenges with vision and have developed a deeper appreciation of how important this sense is.