One important tool used by neuroscientists to understand how the brain creates its sense of reality is visual illusions. Visual illusions reflect the divide that exists between perception and reality. They demonstrate to neuroscientists the ways in which the human brain can fail to re-create the physical world. So, let’s jump right in. Let’s look at top 20 optical illusion that will blow your mind.
1. Dual Axis Illusion
This mind blowing illusion, designed by Frank Force, has a structure which appears to be spinning around a vertical axis – until you’re shown a horizontal axis, then it switches to spinning around that. If you stare long enough, it then begins to spin in the opposite direction. The optical trick employed in this illusion is that it will change depending on which line pattern you focus on – crisscrossing one or the overlapping one.
2. The Rotating Circle
In the Rotating Circles illusion, the motion of the central circle is unchanging – it simply rotates around a central point. However, the added motion of circles around the center one leads a viewer to perceive that the motion of the central circle is “pulled” and distorted. Even though it is continuously rotating, by fixating the white dot, the central circle appears to move up and down, left and right, and even in triangular motion. This optical illusions is something which, from now on, will make you see things in periphery.
3. Coffer Illusion
First time viewers of this display invariably do not see the 16 circles segmented from the background. The bright side is, they see a series of rectangles that they frequently describe as “door panels”. The illusion pits segmentation cues against a series of 3-D structures called “coffers” with closed boundaries. It appears that the former involves both closure and shape-from shading assumptions. This most amazing Illusion is a variation of Gianni Sarcone’s “Op Art illusion”.
4. Motion Integration Unleashed
Previous illusions have demonstrated that drifting Gabors that translate across the visual field can appear to move in the wrong direction. Here, we show that configurations of drifting Gabors that are stationary can give rise to dramatic global motion percepts. A rotating square, oscillating chopsticks and rolling waves are notable examples. Although the Gabors themselves are not changing position, the drifting motion within them tricks the eye into believing that the entire configuration is moving!
5. Colors and the Circle
This magic image went viral in mid-July 2018 after its creator, Dr. David Novick, a professor from University of Texas professor shared it on Twitter. Despite what you may see, turns out all the circles in the picture are actually the same color. Explaining the image, Dr. Novick later stated, "The differences are subtle though, they depend on the size of the image when it's viewed.” Dr. Novick's image, which he calls "Confetti," is an example of a classic optical illusion phenomenon known as a Munker Illusion. The Munker Illusion reveals how much our perception of color is influenced by other surrounding colors.
6. Giant Hole Tattoo
A photo of this tattoo went viral in February 2018 after it was posted on the subreddit r/Damnthatsinteresting. It's not yet clear who the original artist behind the tattoo is. As INSIDER's Jacob Shamsian explained, the tattoo's design creates an illusion of infinite depth, thanks to the placement of "progressively smaller rectangles" on the inside of the spiral. This amazing optical illusion makes this man from Utah look like he has a large hole at the backside of his head.
7. Color of Dresser
In December 2017, Reddit user, Agamiegamer, posted a photo of this dresser to the sub reddit r/blackmagicf---ery. "What color do you see: pink and white or blue and gray?" –the user titled the post. People were immediately torn, with some seeing pink and white, others seeing blue and gray and a few seeing "very light blue-green and pink". Eventually, Reddit user agamiegamer revealed the dresser was actually painted blue and gray in real life. One interesting illusion which definitely deserves a spot in our chart of top 5.
8. Cat on Stairs
This blow-your-mind photo of a cat went viral back in 2015. People wondered whether the animal was going up or down the flight of stairs. Internet users used everything from architecture to biology to defend their answers. INSIDER's Megan Willett, for example, is one person who was able to provide a solid answer to why she thought the cat was "definitely" going down the stairs. And after reading her explanation on Business Insider, I'm convinced. This interesting fact is really something to be amazed of.
So which one of these illusions did you find the most fascinating? Let us know in the comments.
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