"In 2011, researchers Jason Tangen, Sean Murphy, and Matthew Thompson at the University of Queensland discovered a striking visual illusion while preparing a set of face images for a study. As they were going quickly through the faces to check their spatial alignment, they started noticing that the faces appeared highly distorted, almost cartoonish. They then realized that these distortions were most pronounced when the faces were flashed about 4-5 times per second in peripheral vision."
"The effect, which they termed the Flashed Face Distortion Effect (or FFDE), won second place at the 2012 Best Illusion of the Year Contest and was published as a research article in Perception that year. Below is a video example of the illusion: To get the full effect, keep your eyes fixated on the central cross while the faces flash in your peripheral vision. If you pause the video at any point, you can confirm that the faces are not actually distorted at all."
The Flashed Face Distortion Effect causes faces in peripheral vision to appear grotesquely distorted when flashed rapidly at about 4–5 times per second. The illusion is strongest during peripheral fixation while faces flash, and pausing confirms the faces are physically undistorted. Upside-down faces only modestly reduce the effect, and face or observer race does not modulate it, indicating limited reliance on holistic or face-specific expertise. Changing the retinal location of the presented faces substantially diminishes perceived distortion, implying that primary mechanisms are low-level retinal or local visual processes.
Read at Psychology Today
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