Pattern Masking
The Ghost in the Machine: why we miss the obvious when it's noisy.
🧐 What do you see?▼
A central circle is visible when the background is still. When the background starts moving rapidly, the circle instantly becomes much harder to see, or disappears entirely.
🧠 Why this works▼
This is Motion Masking. When the visual system is bombarded with high-contrast movement, it prioritizes the "big" moving signal (the background) and suppresses the static detail (the circle).
This is a digital version of Camouflage. It reveals that "visibility" is a calculation of Signal-to-Noise ratio, not just light hitting the eye.
🧪 Try variations▼
Increase the Speed to make the mask more effective. At high speeds, the circle vanishes, appearing only as a ghostly shadow in your periphery.