Talk:Flash suppression

Confusing wording
I've read this carefully and still don't understand what the article is saying.


 * For example, if a vehicle is shown to the left eye for 1 second, and then a face is abruptly flashed to the right eye, the observer consciously sees first a vehicle and then a face. Note that the face is seen while the picture of the car is still present.

Maybe the use of the word "then" is the problem. In English, "then" typically means "subsequently". So this is saying: Suppose that someone is shown a vehicle, and subsequently is shown a face, then they observer "consciously sees first a vehicle and then a face".

Well, yeah. Why is there a Wikipedia article about this? Normally when A is followed by B, we experience A first and then B. This isn't news. If I listen to a Michael Jackson song, and subsequently listen to a Styx song, then I will consciously hear the Jackson song first and the Styx song second.

Maybe this could be clarified by using numbers. A vehicle is shown to the left eye for one second. Let's say that second lasts from 12:00:00.000 to 12:00:00.999. "Then" a face is shown: what does "then" mean? Does that mean it's flashed from 12:00:01.000 to 12:00:01.005?

And finally, if the observer "consciously sees first a vehicle and then a face", then why is this called "suppression"? If the observer consciously perceives both of them, then neither has been suppressed, right? &mdash; Lawrence King ( talk ) 23:48, 25 May 2012 (UTC)