The Bizarre Phenomenon That Can Happen If You Stare Into Mirrors Too Long

Mirrors are so common in everyday life, chances are you don't give them a lot of thought. The invention of mirrors and their changes throughout history have shown that these everyday tools have  significantly evolved over the years. At the same time, some people have also experienced unusual phenomena when looking into these reflective entities. We are not referring to superstitious or supernatural events here, though. There is in fact a scientifically proven phenomenon called the Troxler effect, which causes optical illusions from staring into mirrors for too long.

Also known as Troxler fading or transient-induced fading, the Troxler effect was discovered in the early nineteenth century by Ignaz Troxler, a Swiss philosopher and physician. It describes optical illusions that can occur when your vision fixates on one spot and the brain is able to then reduce its perception of any other stimuli nearby. These outer areas in your peripheral vision can then literally seem to "fade" right before your eyes and blend with other points you're not so focused on. It's possible to experience the Troxler effect when staring at one spot in a mirror, but it's also not exclusive to mirrors. Such optical illusions can also occur after several seconds if you stare at certain areas of a picture or page of text, to name a few examples.

When you're using a mirror, chances are that you don't normally stare into the exact same spot for several seconds or minutes at a time, but if you do, it's possible to experience signs of the Troxler effect. According to Psychology Today, some examples of these bizarre effects include seeing parts of your face fade away or morph into each other, or perhaps a distortion of your entire face. These effects might even look monstrous or other-worldly, depending on how cheeky your brain is feeling.

It's possible to experience the Troxler effect after staring into any type of mirror for too long, but it's important to know that these are temporary illusions. Your perception normalizes as soon as you shift your gaze. Also, while the Troxler effect isn't necessarily anything to worry about, it can admittedly be a frightening experience for some people. If you do experience these phenomena, you can rest easy knowing that it's nothing to worry about. On the other hand, if you decide to try out the Troxler effect on purpose, just be aware that some of the effects could end up being downright creepy.

Troxler fading should also not be confused with other types of visual phenomena, such as motion-induced blindness and binocular rivalry. Motion-induced blindness causes the illusion of surrounding objects to seemingly disappear, rather than fade or morph after staring at one spot. When staring at two different images, binocular rivalry can cause a temporary lack of perception of one of these images at a time, where the other seems to fade. Unlike the Troxler effect though, the images do not change.