Troxler's fading

The Troxler effect is a phenomenon in the field of visual perception. It was discovered in 1804 by Ignaz Paul Vitalis Troxler.

The phenomenon is also called local adaptation. Here, retinal areas adapt to an ever- same stimulus. This leads after a while the disappearance of peripheral, but also central perceived objects. A constant figure on the visual image is no longer recognized after some time. For example, each person has to be, however, noticed in his view image innumerable tiny veins, although resolved by the eye from the brain not readily available.

A perception of these veins can be done by pricking a small hole with a needle in a piece of paper and through this hole looks, while the opening rotating circular with a radius of about one centimeter around a center point.

Throw the veins of the eye during rotation shadows on the retina, which can perceive the brain by the movement of the shadows again.

In daily life, the occurrence of local adaptation is prevented by permanent microsaccades of the eye. The phenomenon occurs more apparent in peripheral perceived stimuli due to the greater in the peripheral retina receptive fields. The larger the receptive field, the lower is the relative impact of a Mikrosakkade.