Temporal Order Illusion
The Prior Entry Effect: when your brain rewrites history.
🧐 What do you see?▼
Press the Flash button. Two lights will flash in quick succession. Most people find that at very short delays, they cannot tell which one came first, or they consistently perceive the order incorrectly.
🧠 Why this works▼
Our brains don't perceive time as a perfect stream. Processing visual information takes time, and different stimuli have different "processing budgets."
- Prior Entry: If you are paying more attention to one side of the screen, the brain processes that stimulus faster, making it seem to appear first.
- Resolution: The human brain needs a gap of about 20-50 milliseconds between two visual events to reliably tell which one came first.
🧪 Try variations▼
Adjust the Intensity slider. High intensity increases the delay between the flashes, making the order obvious. Low intensity shrinks the gap, pushing your brain into its "guessing" state.
❓ FAQ▼
Is this related to audio?
Yes! This is even more apparent in the "Flash-Beep" illusion, where sounds can change the perceived number of flashes you see because the brain trusts hearing for timing more than sight.