1080: Visual Field

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I recently learned something that solved a mystery that had bugged me since childhood—why, when I looked at an analog clock, the hand would sometimes seem to take a couple seconds to start ticking. Google "stopped clock illusion".

Explanation

There's a lot of informative detail here, so click on the image to see the large version.

Stopped Clock Illusion or Chronostatis:[1]

   The term chronostasis refers to the illusion in which the first impression following a saccade (quick eye movement) appears to be extended in time. 
   The most well-known version of this illusion is the stopped-clock illusion where the first movement of the second hand of an analogue clock,
   following the viewer directing attention to the clock, appears to take longer than the next movement.
   When eyes move from one point to another (a saccade), perception of time stretches slightly backward. 
   The brain tells us that we've been looking at the watch for slightly longer than we really have, hence the illusion that the 
   second-hand is frozen for more than a second. Although this happens every time our eyes move from one fixation point 
   to the next, we rarely notice it. One explanation is that our brains are filling in the gap while our eyes move from looking at one thing to the next.
   Experiments have shown that this illusion is probably caused by the way in which the brain attempts to construct a continuous consciousness experience in spite of 
   quick eye movements (saccades). Although this effect is present with all eye movements, it is most noticeable when an external time-keeping source is observed.

In the bottom left, the "T-Boz Blind Spot" and the "Chilli Blind Spot" are linked to the "Left-Eye Blind Spot", which all three are members of the 90s pop trio, TLC, who's most famous songs were "Creep" and "Waterfalls".

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Discussion

I may just print this and laminate it for display. I love it when Randall puts out a poster-size comic because it means more wall decorations. Davidy²²[talk] 13:51, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Anybody else wonder if it's coincidence that a comic about vision - much of its content relating to the resoultion of the eye - is #1080? 108.162.241.17 01:15, 9 August 2014 (UTC)

I typed 1080 into the address bar to see if the number would be relevant to whatever comic loaded. 108.162.237.161 20:00, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I think the fact this is comic number 1080 is relevant since 1080p is a screen resolution.108.162.216.82 06:41, 23 November 2018 (UTC)