I induced this effect in me on 17th April (just checked my browser history for exact date) using instruction given in this wiki article and I can still clearly see test bars as red and green, over 4.5 months later, it is incredible.

How long did you look at it?

Hard to remember exactly but it was a few minutes per image. I repeated it a couple times over the day because I was fascinated by it. I'd say 30 minutes per image over 12 hours.

>It is not behind a spoiler, which would be against the rules on English Wikipedia

On the desktop site it has a spoiler box saying, "Show at your own risk."

That's funny. It didn't for years up to at least a month ago or so and also doesn't seem to on mobile now for me, but I didn't check it on desktop before posting the comment!

Edit: it was hidden Aug 16th[1] but previously hiding it has been reverted[2][3][4] for at least 2 years per WP:DISC[5]

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McCollough_effect... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McCollough_effect... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McCollough_effect... [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McCollough_effect... [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Content_disclaimer

Desktop link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCollough_effect

the OP is the mobile site

Note: just glancing at the images will not do anything - you have to prime your perception by looking at them alternatively for some minutes.

This held true for me. I tried staring at the red and green ones alternating every few seconds for a minute or so before I got bored. After a few times I started seeing what I can best describe as shadows of green horizontal bars when looking at the red image.

I was rather disappointed.

> a literal infohazard basalisk image that if stared at for a few minutes will alter your color perception for a significant period of time - potentially months

That's really scary! It's like looking at the sun.

This might be going off-tangent but I really find things like this fascinating! Reminds me of the Motif of Harmful Sensation[1], one of those tropes that sound fantastical and absurd even in fiction but is actually in real life.

[1] http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Motif_of_harmful_sensati... (Not TVTropes, because I also consider TVTropes as "harmful sensation".)

I am reminded of the "Pokémon Shock"[0] incident in 1997 that triggered epileptic seizures in a number of viewers, resulting in 685 people requiring medical attention.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Senshi_Porygon

Thank you for the link, I've tried to look up the trope of "sound/video that kills/makes one go insane" on TVtrope but I haven't been able to find it. It's also strange that there isn't a wikipedia article about it. It's relatively common in movies and literature.

Real life SCP