Concept information
Preferred term
McCollough effect
Definition
- The McCollough effect (ME) is a visual aftereffect in which illusory colors are contingent on the orientation of black-and-white lines. For example, after looking at alternating black-and-red vertical lines and black-and-green horizontal lines, black-and-white vertical lines look greenish and black-and-white horizontal lines look reddish (see color insert, Figure 26d).The ME is fascinating for:being simple to establish, yet being long lasting: 10 minutes of induction produces MEs lasting 24 hours;being a contingent aftereffect (CAE) in which one property of the visual world, for example, color, is contingent on another such as orientation; andoffering a key to the binding problem: how different properties of the sensory world, such as color and orientation, analyzed in different parts of the brain, are experienced as bound together into, say, a red vertical line.This entry covers what it is like to experience the ME, the history of the ME, other contingent effects of ME, and an explanation of the ME.Experiencing the EffectOne needs some patience to experience the ME. First one looks at a test figure, containing regions of black-and-white lines of opposite orientations, such as vertical and horizontal (see color insert, Figure 26a). [Source: Encyclopedia of Perception; McCollough Effect]
Broader concept
Belongs to group
URI
https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/McCollough_effect
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