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Psychological Phenomena

McCollough Effect

Perception and Psychophysics Effects

The McCollough effect is a visual perception phenomenon in which colorless black-and-white gratings appear tinted with color depending on their orientation. After viewing alternating red horizontal and green vertical gratings for several minutes, an observer will perceive plain black-and-white horizontal lines as tinged greenish and vertical lines as tinged pinkish. Discovered by the American psychologist Celeste McCollough in 1965, the effect is unusually persistent and has been reported to last as long as two and a half months when a person's exposure to further testing is limited.

Facts
Core Claim
The McCollough effect is a phenomenon of human visual perception in which colorless gratings appear colored depending on the orientation of the gratings. 1
First Described Year
1965 1
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Perceptual Phenomenon 1
Connections

In Branch

Sources
1. McCollough effect, Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    The McCollough effect is a phenomenon of human visual perception in which colorless gratings appear colored contingent on the orientation of the gratings.
  • History section
    The effect was discovered by American psychologist Celeste McCollough in 1965.
  • lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
    The McCollough effect is a phenomenon of human visual perception in which colorless gratings appear colored contingent on the orientation of the gratings.
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