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Afterimage

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

  • 571 Accesses

Synonyms

Aftereffect; Ghost image; Image burn-in

Definition

An afterimage is an image that continues to be perceived after the physical stimulus that it originated from disappears from the observer’s visual field. The afterimage can be a result of an exposition to a grayscale pattern, a colored pattern, or even to a motion stimulus. There are different kinds of afterimages, for example, the positive one will be the same with the physical stimulus, while the negative one will result in the opposite in terms of luminance, colors, or direction of the physical stimulus that generates it.

Introduction

In everyday experience it is not so uncommon to experience several types of aftereffects. The observation done by Addams [1] while watching the Falls of Foyers, near to the Loch Ness in Scotland, is probably the most famous description of the motion aftereffect outside a scientific laboratory. The motion aftereffect was already observed by Aristotle and Lucretius in the ancient times, but the...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, 24129, Italy

    Simone Gori

  2. Developmental Neuropsychology Unit, Scientific Institute “E. Medea”, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy

    Simone Gori

Authors
  1. Simone Gori
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Gori .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Modern, Optical Instrumentation, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Ming Ronnier Luo

  2. School of Design, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Ming Ronnier Luo

  3. Graduate Institute of Colour and Illumination, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Ming Ronnier Luo

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Gori, S. (2016). Afterimage. In: Luo, M.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8071-7_271

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