Illusions
The ancient adage, "seeing is believing" may seem to hold a key to objective truth, but does it? Of course anyone can believe anything they see, but beliefs hold no requirement to objective reality, nor does seeing, by itself, necessarily point to something "out there." Moreover, seeing does not require a person to believe in what they see, as the adage seems to assert.
Although vision certainly gives us information about the world, scientists now know that biological eyesight involves a complicated energy-matter and neurological network that, unfortunately, can also give us false information at times. Although our eyes detect light, only the brain can "see," and when we get caught believing what we see, we also fall prey to falsehoods.
The following visual illusions demonstrate that, although you may still believe what you see, what you believe and what the objects actually represent may differ by a wide margin.
Spiral Illusions
Illusion (Uzumaki ampan) by Akiyoshi Kitaoka So you think you see spirals? Well, your brain may construct a spiral but nowhere in these graphics do spirals exist. The curves form independent concentric circles! Trace the lines with your finger and discover it for yourself.
Scintillating grid
Black dots seem to appear and then vanish at the intersections of the horizontal and vertical lines. Strangely, the illusion only seems to work at a distance. If you move your eyes close to the screen, the illusion vanishes.
E. Lingelbach discovered the scintillating grid illusion in 1994.
Color word illusion
Look at each word and speak out the colors, not the word.
Part of your brain tries to identify the color while another part of your brain reads the word. This regional brain conflict can produce errors in perception.
Old woman, young woman
Do you see a young woman or and old woman?
If you see a young woman, and wish to see the old woman, imagine the ear as an eye, the necklace as a mouth and the chin as a nose.
If you see an old woman, and wish to see the young woman, imagine the eye as an ear, the mouth as a necklace and the nose as a chin.
Your brain wants to flip to either one or the other image but if you study it long enough you might see both images at once. Can you do it?
This illusion should blow your mind. Squares A and B have identical shades of grey! If you compare the two squares together, you will realize that they, indeed, have the same greyscale value. With that knowledge, you will have no need to believe, even though the illusion will still persist.
To see the two squares compared together, click here.
For the original source and the answer of how this illusion works, see Edward H. Adelson's web page.
- Rotating Snakes Illusion
- by Akiyoshi Kitaoka
In spite of the impression that this looks like an animated graphic, nothing in it moves. The "movement" occurs only in your mind.
For a view of the original "Rotating Snake," click here
- Moving Green Dot Illusion
- by Michael Bach
Stare at the black cross in the center and notice a green dot rotating. Now try concentrating really hard and steady at the cross for a long time. If you do it right, the pink dots will disappear and you'll only see the green dot rotating.
However, nowhere does green exist in this illusion except in your brain!
If you follow the movement of the rotating green dot, the green will dissapear.
- Dr. Angry and Mr. Smiles
- by Dr Aude Oliva and Dr Philippe Schyns
- These scary fellows don't always appear as they seem. Obviously Dr. Angry appears on the left and Mr. Smiles on the right. But if you back away from your computer screen a few feet, the effect will switch around; Mr. Smiles will change places with Dr. Angry. The effect works at different distances for some people. I had to move back about 15 feet before the switch occurred.
To read the explanation of the illusion, read the scientific paper (in pdf format) here.
Disappearing Fluff
Stare at the black dot for a minute (the longer the better), and watch the colored 'fluff' disappear!
Three Nudes
Face in the beans
We are a pattern seeking species, but sometimes we have to look hard to see the obvious.
How quickly can you find the face in the beans?
The Dragon Illusion
This video shows how the Dragon Illusion works.
As the camera scans the dragon, it appears to move its head.
Click here to view.
Right Brain vs. Left Brain
Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?
According to this article, if you see the girl turning clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.
Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.
(When I first look at it, I see the dancer turning clockwise, but after a few seconds, it flips to counterclockwise, go figure.)
Scary Illusion
Something appears very wrong with this picture. Click here to examine it. Concentrate carefully.
Jesus on the Beach
This observation comes from Lang Hames and reported in James Randi's newsletter.
Hames was walking on an island in the South Pacific where he saw a Jesus-like figure standing standing on a beach. The man had long dark hair and a light grey cloak, hunched slightly and with his head bowed as if he were in solemn contemplation or prayer, standing completely alone just beyond some driftwood on the beach.
His girlfriend, Tara, took a few photos as they approached the man.
Examine these photos carefully, and then go to the bottom of the web page to see the last photo.
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As you can see, 'Jesus' here looks very much like a piece of driftwood.
This type of illusion goes by the name, "Pareidolia," and describes a misperception involving a vague or obscure stimulus being perceived as something clear and distinct. It explains various misperceptions which includes Mary aspirations, the face of Jesus on a burnt tortilla, many UFO visions, Elvis sightings, etc.
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