Ok when the black and white image shows up it should look like it's colored. The funny colored picture I told you about earlier- that's an inverted chrominance map. That means is a picture with all the information about color hue but no information about how light or dark the colors should be. It's inverted which is kind of like a negative of film. Your eyes get used to the inverted colors so that when the image goes away it seems as if the normal colors are in front of you. The second picture that comes up is a luminance map- it's a picture that has all the light and dark information but none of the color information. So when the image change happens the leftover color information is combined with the luminance information in your brain and you get a color picture.

Here's some fun things to try:

• Put your face close to the screen and see how long you can make the color stay
• Immediately after you see color twitch your eyes or move your face to get the black and white back
• Close your eyes right after the picture changes, see if the image you remember is in color
• Try staring at different parts of the picture (like the background)- You'll get the most color in your peripheral vision. I'm guessing that the high density of cones near your fovea increases visual acuity at the center of your field of view- which means that your brain & eyes don't fall for the trick as easily.
• Try it on your colorblind friends (ok, just kidding)
• Send all your other friends to try it! - just copy the link: http://edified.org/archive/illusions/chrominance
• Build your own. If you need help email me

Jeremy AIMed me this article from johnsadowski.com and it inspired me to write a little flash. If you have any suggestions leave a comment!