Flicker Fusion
Temporal Resolution: the speed limit of human vision.
🧐 What do you see?▼
The screen is rapidly switching between Red and Green. At slow speeds, you see the individual colors flashing. As youincrease the speed, the two colors will seem to "fuse" until they look like a solid, stable Yellow.
🧠 Why this works▼
This is the Critical Flicker Fusion Threshold (CFF). Your eyes and brain have a "sample rate." If the light changes faster than this rate (usually between 50-90 Hz), the sensory signal persists until the next one arrives, causing them to blend.
This is the fundamental principle that allows us to watchMovies (24-60 fps) and use Monitorswithout seeing a constant, painful flicker.
🧪 Try variations▼
Adjust the Speed. Notice that if you look away with your peripheral vision, you might see the flicker again! The edges of our retina have a higher temporal resolution than the center.