Optical illusions are an excellent way to prove that our visual perceptions are not simply the result of the pattern and nature of photons hitting our retinas. They prove that our brain makes big assumptions to simplify the task of understanding the world.
Here are two neat ones, from a blog that promises to post more:
At some previous point, I am sure I mentioned the compelling dragon hollow face illusion.
Author: Milan
In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. Between 2005 and 2007 I completed an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. I worked for five years for the Canadian federal government, including completing the Accelerated Economist Training Program, and then completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Toronto in 2023.
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Neave strobe
You see embedded spirals, right, of green, pinkish-orange, and blue? Incredibly, the green and the blue spirals are the same color. At first I thought Richard was pulling our collective legs, being a trickster of high magnitude. So I loaded the image in Photoshop and examined the two spirals. In the two squares displayed below, the one on the left is colored using the same color from the blue spiral, and on the right using the green spiral.
Hidden circles illusion