Make This Dot Disappear

Transcript

Close your left eye. Keep your right eye on the cross.

Keep looking at the cross while slowly moving your phone closer and farther.

At one distance, the dot should disappear. Pause here to try it.

At the back of each eye, a nerve carries signals to your brain.

Where it leaves the light-sensitive lining, there are no light-detecting cells.

That’s your natural blind spot.

Your brain fills the gap using nearby visual information.

Usually, your other eye helps cover it too.

The dot stays on screen. Your eye loses it.

Attribution

Photograph: Dzenanz / Wikimedia Commons (public domain); original animations and sound cues by AskPandi; experiment and research from the Exploratorium, National Eye Institute and cited neuroscience research; voiceover generated with ElevenLabs. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}