The Phenakistoscope

Persistence of vision is a phenomenon that occurs because the human eye retains an image for a brief moment after the image is removed from view. The term "phenakistoscope" is derived from two Greek words: "phenax", meaning "deceiver", and "stos", meaning "viewer." In essence, the phenakistoscope takes advantage of the persistence of vision to trick the brain into perceiving motion from a series of static images.