Reader Question: Is it true that animations cause seizures?

Hello Mr. Sanders, My daughter, 13, has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy. Our doctor has advised us to avoid anything that could trigger a seizure. I have heard that animations can trigger seizures. Is this true? Thank you, Mrs. E. June

I'm hesitant to speak on this, honestly, as I'm not a medical professional and nothing I say should be construed as expert or even informed medical commentary. From my experience, epileptic seizures can be triggered by viewing of any kind of rapidly moving, brightly flashing image for long enough. This can include animations, but not all animations. There have been stories of children in Japan suffering seizures from viewing certain animations, and a more recent story that malicious internet users spammed a message board for epileptics with flashing, rapidly moving animated GIFs that triggered seizures for some of the users. That wasn't a direct result of animation, though, save for when the term "animation" is taken as a direct and literal synonym for "motion." It could have been any moving image, not just a drawn and animated moving image.

The important lesson here is to follow your doctor's advice regarding the types of images/video to avoid not by genre or style, but by content. If you really are concerned about this, speak with your daughter's physician rather than consulting an animator.