From Tim David, at TimDavidMagic.com.
“Retention of Vision” as it is commonly known in the magic world, is also called “persistence of vision”.
It is the idea that the human eye retains an “after-image” of an object for a few moments after the object is out of sight.
A common coin move, The Retention Vanish, supposedly takes advantage of this “glitch of the eye”.
You’ve probably read magic books or seen magic DVDs that say something like, “The spectator swears they see the coin in your hand, due to what is called ‘retention of vision’.”
The only problem is, that’s a bunch of crap.
What’s worse, people have known the truth about “retention of vision” since 1912!
Apparently, nobody told us magicians.
Incidentally, a retention vanish works not because of a physiological defect in the eye, but rather a psychological effect known as “object permanence”.
Then why do magicians still talk about “retention of vision” like it is gospel truth?
I don’t know, but let’s end the myth together! Forward this blog post to your magic friends and spread the good news…Your eyes are not broken!
For you wiki-nerds out there, here’s some more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision
Original Post: “Retention of Vision” – Just a MYTH?
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