Flashed Face Distortion Effect = Caricature Effect
Original Gif
there's this animation spreading on the web:

Each person's face becomes a caricature.
Here's each image of the frame.









































Why Does it Happen?
You don't need fancy explanation from neuro-psychologists.
This effect happen simply because you are not looking at the face directly (aka peripheral vision), and only for a fraction of a second.
You don't have full info. So, your brain constructs the most outstanding parts of a person's face, as in caricature, where facial features are exagerrated.
Just try to look at any photo of a person's face, but don't look directly, look at a point outside the picture, and you'll get the same effect.
The original source that inspired this animation of celebrities seems to be: http://www.perceptionweb.com/abstract.cgi?id=p6968
here's one of the animations from that article: