Optical illusion that makes colors 'vanish' before your eyes goes viral

Viewers looking at an optical illusion which made headlines this week may see colors in the image gradually vanish (REUTERS/Michaela Rehle)

Can you see it?

Viewers looking at an optical illusion which made headlines this week may see colors in the image gradually vanish, The Verge reports.

“This picture will fade away if you stare at it (may take a minute),” user NightBreeze wrote when sharing the image on the r/woahdude subreddit.

The post had received 48,3000 upvotes and 1,500 comments as of Wednesday afternoon.

The optical illusion happens as a result of the Troxler effect -- which gets its name from Swiss physician Ignas Paul Vital Troxler, Live Science reports.

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The Illusions Index, an online database from the University of Glasgow’s Center for the Study of Perceptual Experience, broke down the phenomenon.

“In 1804, Troxler made the discovery that rigidly fixating one’s gaze on some element in the visual field can cause surrounding stationary images to seem to slowly disappear or fade,” the index says.

“They are replaced with an experience, the nature of which is determined by the background that the object is on,” it adds. “This is known as filling-in.”