section_path: Color vision/Afterimages
section_name: Afterimages
paragraph_text: Afterimages
  
  After exposure to strong light in their sensitivity range, photoreceptors of a given type become desensitized. For a few seconds after the light ceases, they will continue to signal less strongly than they otherwise would. Colors observed during that period will appear to lack the color component detected by the desensitized photoreceptors. This effect is responsible for the phenomenon of afterimages, in which the eye may continue to see a bright figure after looking away from it, but in a complementary color. Afterimage effects have also been used by artists, including Vincent van Gogh.