Freaky.

Did exactly what I thought it was going to do... and no, you don't need to 'read aloud' the letters.

I actually prefer the effect it gives while you're looking at it moreso than what happens afterwards.

I did a little reading and apparently this is known as the motion aftereffect illusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_aftereffect

It would be very interesting to know how the brain's motion adaptation feature works normally. I bet it's the sort of thing that's incredibly useful under normal circumstances.

We probably evolved this trait to help us see the world steadily while running. New studies are suggesting we used to hunt our prey by "persistence hunting," or just jogging after an animal until it falls over from heat exhaustion (most animals can't cool down and move at the same time).

When you're moving steadily for a long period of time, your brain starts to "edit out" the movement, so you can see everything around you clearly. When you stop, your brain is still compensating, thus the effect.

My guess, at least.

I have some liquid that will help sustain this effect for hours and intensity is affected by type, duration,volume,and width of music played in the background...

Woohoo! So starts the weeken-... oh it stopped.

The loudspeaker on my desk is - TRYING TO EAT ME!

You get a similar effect watching credits at the end of a movie. I believe thats called the waterfall effect.

Those are all interesting points, I never really thought about why it does that to my vision. I always assumed it kind of "burned into your eyes" for a while like when you look at the sun then quickly look away how there's still a spot in your vision.

Yup, it's a motion after effect. I doubt it "evolved" for a specific purpose however. Adaptation effects of this sort are thought to result from neural "fatigue." That is, the tendency for a neuron not to fire after a prolonged period of high activation. The idea that short term neural adaptation exists for some purpose other than straightforward biological constraints is appealing on the surface, but unlikely imo. You have to remember that it only works if stimuli are held perfectly still with respect to the retina for periods that are much longer than natural. In fact, there are some that argue there are special eye-movements to ensure that exactly that doesn't happen (look up Troxler fading for a similar phenomenon).

However, it's an extremely useful phenomenon empirically. The effect can be used to probe the stimuli that a distinct subpopulation of neurons (the adapted subpopulation) is responsive to. This ability to make inferences about neural mechanisms from strictly behavioral evidence rather than direct neural recordings makes it an important psychophysical tool. Behavioral arguments of this sort, where it is shown a population of neurons specifically responsive to X must exist, often precede physiological confirmation obtained later either with functional imaging studies or electrophysiological recordings in animal models.

There was a slight feeling of disorientation when looking at it, but I got nothing afterward.

Same thing happens when playing guitar hero or road cycling.

Thank you for posting this, I have received your instructions.

I want this always and with the loud music telling me how to behave