Stephan is a surgeon. After 10 hours of looking into a surgical incision, he looks up at the white walls of the operating room and sees pinkish flashes of light. What is Stephan experiencing?
A) Fatigue of his red cones
B) Fatigue of his green cones
C) Negative afterimage
D) Fatigue of afterimages

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Negative afterimages occur when the cells in the retina that are responsible for detecting color become fatigued from overstimulation. In Stephan's case, staring at the red of the surgical incision fatigues the red-sensitive cones in his eyes. When he then looks at a white wall, which normally stimulates all three types of color cones equally, the fatigued red cones respond less, making the white wall appear to have a pinkish flash, which is the complementary color to red. This phenomenon is a classic example of a negative afterimage.

Stephan Is a Surgeon