Persistence of vision how does it relate to film?

Answer 1

Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which even nanoseconds of exposure to an image result in milliseconds of reaction (sight) from the retina to the optic nerves. This is because persistence of vision depends on chemical transmission of nerve responses, and this biochemical hysteresis is much slower than the light transmission.

The myth of persistence of vision refers to the mistaken belief that human perception of motion (brain centered) is the result of persistence of vision (eye centered). The myth was debunked in 1912 by Wertheimer (Wertheimer, 1912. Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung. Zeitschrift für Psychologie 61, pp. 161-265) but persists in many citations in modern texts. Motion perception has been shown to be the result of the Beta Phenomenon.

A visual form of memory known as iconic memory has been described as the cause of this phenomenon[1]. Although psychologists and physiologists have rejected the relevance of this theory to film viewership, film academics and theorists generally have not. Some scientists nowadays consider the entire theory a myth. [1]

Persistence of vision should be compared with the related phenomena of beta movement and phi movement. A critical part of understanding these visual perception phenomena is that the eye is not a camera: there is no "frame rate" or "scan rate" in the eye: instead, the eye/brain system has a combination of motion detectors, detail detectors and pattern detectors, the outputs of all of which are combined to create the visual experience.

Source(s):Wikipedia