afterimage
Sign in to saveAlso known as retina fatigue
thumb|If a viewer stares at the white dot in the center of this image for 5–60 seconds and then looks at a plain white surface, a negative afterimage will appear, showing a person's face in a more natural color scheme. This can also be achieved by the viewer closing their eyes.
Research
1,295 papers- Afterimage duration differs for migraine with or without aura.Headache · 2025
- Afterimage duration depends on how deeply invisible stimuli were suppressed.Journal of vision · 2023
- Exploring afterimage appearance with the natural color system.Vision research · 2025
- Afterimage of perceptually filled-in surface.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2001
- Ptolemy's Optics, double-vision, and the technological afterimage.Studies in history and philosophy of science · 2022
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
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- Commons category
- Afterimage illusions
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Negative afterimages
- Positive afterimages
- On empty shape
- Gallery
- See also
- Notes
- External links
thumb|If a viewer stares at the white dot in the center of this image for 5–60 seconds and then looks at a plain white surface, a negative afterimage will appear, showing a person's face in a more natural color scheme. This can also be achieved by the viewer closing their eyes.
An afterimage, or after-image, is an image that continues to appear in the eyes after a period of exposure to the original image. An afterimage may be a normal phenomenon (physiological afterimage) or may be pathological (palinopsia). Illusory palinopsia may be a pathological exaggeration of physiological afterimages. Afterimages occur because photochemical activity in the retina continues even when the eyes are no longer experiencing the original stimulus.