A new phenomenon of apparent movement and its after-effect

It is found that a stationary spiral pattern gives an appearance of movement in a flickering light, and, furthermore, that this apparent rotation gives rise to the same kind of after-effect as a spiral actually rotating. The illusion is obtainable over a wide range of conditions. Detailed results are given in the case of six subjects, but a large number of subjects experienced the illusion. The experimenter has as yet found no one who was not subject to the illusion itself. The after-effects are not universally experienced.