Can bright flashing colors cause seizure's?

Question

My friend told me that bright flashing colors can cause seizures. I was wondering if this was true. If so why?

Answer 1

Bright flashing colors can cause seizures in people who are prone to seizures, for example people with epilepsy.  The average person will not have a seizure when exposed to bright flashing lights.

It can be a migraine trigger for some people, too.  I have that problem with some video games.

Answer 2

Yes it is true. The most famous case was from an episode of Pokemon in Japan. It occurs most often in people who have epilepsy and causes their nerves in the brain to miss-fire. This can cause the seizures. But the average person shouldn't be affected by it. BTW they have this warning on a lot of video games, so I guess its a well documented problem.

Answer 3

Yes it is true.  The flashing lights can cause the synapses in the brain to misfire and cause a siezure due to the confusion of the jumbled messages.