Motion Illusions & Brain Tricks
Optical illusions happen when our brain and eyes don’t work together as we expect.
- Our eyes collect light and images, but the brain tries to make sense of them.
- Sometimes, the brain makes guesses based on experience, but those guesses can be wrong.
- Müller-Lyer Illusion: Two lines of the same length look different because of the arrows at their ends.
- Spinning Snakes Illusion: The circles seem to spin when you move your eyes, even though they’re completely still.
Color Comparison & Fill-In Illusions
Our brain fills in missing details and compares things based on learning. It compares colors to the ones around them.
- Checker Shadow Illusion (Adelson’s Illusion): Two squares on a checkerboard look different in color because of shadows and light, but they’re identical.
- Kanizsa Triangle (Perceptual Fill-ins): You see a white triangle even though none is drawn; other shapes suggest it. Our brain fills it in!
- Size illusions trick the brain into seeing objects as different sizes when they’re actually the same, like in the tilted Ames Room.
Fun Facts
Here are some interesting facts about optical illusions and brain tricks:
- It takes about 13 milliseconds for your brain to recognize an image—faster than a blink!
- Afterimages – Stare at a bright shape, then look away, and you’ll see its “ghost” in the opposite color!
- Artists like M.C. Escher made famous art that used optical illusions to trick the mind.
- Some colors can disappear from your vision if you stare too long. This is called “Troxler’s fading.”
Review
Let’s quickly recap what we learned about optical illusions and brain tricks:
- What kind of illusion makes still images appear to move? Motion
- Which illusion makes two same-colored squares look different? Checker
- What is that called when your brain fills in missing pieces of a picture? Perception
- What’s the name of the illusion where the brain sees a triangle that isn’t there? Kanizsa
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