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stroboscopic eyes



An experiment that I have found interesting:

When you are bored in a large lecture hall (or church or whatever)
that has rotating ceiling fans.
try to count the blades.
usually they are moving slightly too fast to do this easily.

Blink your eyes. When your eyes close, they retain a still
image of the last thing seen for a short time.

Concentrate on the image seen in your memory and you can now
(maybe) count the blades on the fan when you couln't before.

Sometimes it helps to blink your eyes as rapidly as you can,
repeatedly, and you can actually see the strobe effect.

You can try this on a number of moving objects, and retain a still
image of a critical event. But, the object cannot be moving too fast.

I am still waiting for an umpire to try this on a close call at
first base, or a close call for a ball or strike. But, sometimes
it seems that the umpires just close their eyes and forget to
reopen them!? Or, if you're already blind, it probably won't make
any difference.

Oren Quist
SDSU