And we're not talking figuratively. According to researchers at Saint Peter's College, this benign looking black and white rug pattern exhibits not-so-lovely "nauseogenic properties". The full image below, but stare at your own risk!
The finding was born from a real-world experience: the researchers' colleague purchased a similar rug with a repetitive black and white square pattern and later found himself feeling the effects normally attributed to motion sickness: dizziness, nausea, headaches and a general sense of disorientation (hey, these are the very same feelings I get while trying to navigate the aisles at IKEA on a Saturday afternoon).
Some claim certain decor makes them feel sick in the figurative sense, but Frederick Bonato, PhD, a psychology professor at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City noted some repetitive patterns have been found to cause visual distress and seizures.
Researchers say they do not know exactly why high contrast repeat patterns can lead to ill feelings, but it seems likely the physiological reaction is similar to staring at one of these optical illusions:
They weren't joking, I'm actually a little queasy at this point while writing up this post from staring at both of these graphics. The rug image has been up on my screen for far more than 5 minutes and I can feel the tell-tale signs of motion sickness at the back of my throat, even though I've tried to stare away.
Via MSNBC Body Odd
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Actually check out the dictionary. Nauseous can be synonymous with nauseating OR nauseated. Both uses for nauseous appeared in the early 17th century and both are considered standard usage today.
makes me think twice about buying the b&w stripe rug I've been obsessing over. le sigh
Huh. Now why would someone design a rug with nauseogenic properties? I mean, maybe the designer didn't know...but I'm sure designers look at their own work. Interesting!
As an aside, I'm inheriting a couch with the exact same pattern, only in brown and yellow. Hello slipcovers!
There are many trendy patterns posted on AT that probably have this property. I don't actually feel physically sickened by them, but my visual processing system really really doesn't like them. Bold black and white chevrons are particularly bad. I get urges to post snarky comments about them, because I can't imagine that any sane person could live with these patterns.
I think it's because your eyes can easily focus in closer or farther back from the pattern in the rug. This makes the pattern overlap and it ends up looking closer or father from you, depending on your focal point. This is visually disoncerting. You can undo it by touching the pattern and focusing on your fingertip.
It's like putting your fingetips together and then crossing your eyes: you get that weird little hotdog finger between them. Only with the rug, you get a seamless overlap of the pattern and you can't tell where it actually is. And it takes almost no effort to get it to do that.
I can`t deal with rugs like this. I am currently in the process of looking for an apartment and furniture, and I think about patterns like this and how people can get sick from looking at them. Patterns like this literally violate my body in a multitude of ways.
I was looking in art galleries in Chelsea last week and one of them had a projection of a moving pattern on the floor. The ill feeling it caused lasted a long time. Ceiling fans can trigger a migraine for me and I really dislike patterns like this.
Plus... down there in the corner...DEMON FACE!
But, yeah, definitely-- there are patterns that cause this issue. When I was 3 years old, my first "big girl" bed was a spare full-size that my grandparents gave me. My mom bought a beautiful (this was the early 1970's, mind) orange-and pink chevron striped bedspread for me. I think there was a thin mint-green line running through there too. When she first made my bed with the new bedspread, I remember loving it. But... it gave me nightmares. After having that pattern feature in my night terrors a few times, it got to the point where I would start to feel sick just looking at it. My mom didn't believe me (or didn't want to-- new bed linens were definitely considered a luxury in our then- circumstances). So, I threw up on it. Twice. And cried.
I never saw that bedspread again.
I suspect a lot has to do with the scale of the pattern. If it's small and the ratios of the contrasting colors are pretty equivalent, I can see this having a similar effect as strobing lights do to an epileptic.
Since I woke up today feeling a bit like an inner ear infection is coming on, I am not going to stare at these patterns! No additional dizziness is needed in my life today!
Thanks a lot! I just puked all over my computer!
(just kidding; good post)
This week's New York magazine: The Approval Matrix (back of book section) puts this "nauseous" business in the Highbrow / Despicable category saying " Jerk people who correct you for saying 'nauseous" instead of 'nauseated."
I feel this way about black and white checkered tiled floors. I don't know how anyone can walk around on them without getting dizzy and falling over.
I feel a migraine coming on... Thanks for pointing this out, the striped kilim is out.
Doesn't make me feel nauseous but patterns like this have always given me headaches even after about a minute of looking at them. The actual pattern is a lot worse to me than the rug though.