The optical illusion that tricks your brain into seeing colour
"In my head a full colour image was created of a photograph that clearly contains no colour."
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.From "The Dress" to invisible sheep optical illusions are fascinating because they showcase how complex our bodies are - but this might be the cleverest example we’ve seen yet.
The illusion was featured on the BBC Four series Colour: The Spectrum of Science. Watch the clip from the show below to experience the trick.
By staring at the blue dot in the centre of the image for a few seconds, your brain will gather enough information to fill a black and white version of Dunstanburgh Castle with vidid colours.
The effect is achieved because as you stare at the dot, the cells in the retina which detect red, green, blue or blue become desensitised and disregard the colours it is seeing.
When your eyes are then confronted with a monochrome image, the eyes will attempt to fill in the colours.
As soon as the eyes are taken off the image, it will once again appear monochrome, Mail Online reported.
Working similarly to a negative film, the process is known as an “afterimage”.
Dr Helen Czerski, a physicist at University College London, said of the illusion: “By staring at the dot in the middle of the screen, my brain, and if you do it your brain, is doing something remarkable.
“I find this absolutely fascinating.
“'In my head a full colour image was created of a photograph that clearly contains no colour,” she says in the clip.
Colour: the Spectrum of Science is now available to view on BBC iplayer
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments