However, you must be very careful around possible IR or UV sources as there will be no reflex to keep your eyes closed, look away or close your pupils! You will at most feel the warmth of the light source in the skin of your face, at which point it is likely too late.

If intentionally sticking your head in a strong light source, wear eye protection.

There are optical illusions where you stare at a highly saturated color for a while and then close your eyes, seeing a negative of the image you stared at in your eyes.

Continuous color sensing is just one of the fictions our brains tell us unfortunately. If you play outside without sunglasses you will find that everything inside looks extremely dark. That's not just pupil contraction, although that plays a role. The photo receptors in your eye have a recharge rate, and very loud colors can exceed that. Your brain keeps adjusting to compensate but you can catch it via rapid changes, like closing your eyes.

> It's a form of exhaustion of the sensing cells and doesn't necessarily damage them.

As someone with experience in the field: this is half true at best, since you can get the same symptons with proper, permanent and irreversible damage. Claiming it is "just exhaustion" is a dangerous attitude to have.