I don't know why I'm on a perception/illusion kick lately, but what the heck:
Here's one of my favorites: the spinning woman illusion. I tend to start by seeing her spin clockwise, but if I concentrate on her lower foot and work upwards, I can see a counter-clockwise spin, too. (The image has no intrinsic spin; it's symmetrical in both directions, so the "spin" we see is an illusion imposed by our brains.)
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/10/casual_fridays_tk421_why_cant.php
The same page has a nice 3D "magic eye" illusion, too: An image of a doberman, facing right. Can you see it?
"An image of a doberman" ... A doberman is a dog and the 'depicted' animal is a horse--as far as I can see it!
ReplyDeleteYup, sure looked like a horse to me too.
ReplyDeleteThe hind legs looked wrong to me, for it to be a horse.
ReplyDeleteHow about: "a quadruped with a long snout?" =)
It took some effort but I was finally able to see the woman spin counter-clockwise. Then I saw her go clockwise again. I love these optical illusions.
ReplyDeleteOuch! (In reference to the dancer.)
ReplyDeleteHopeless! Any 'new' tricks? (In reference to the "magic eye" - tried cross-eyed and blurring to no avail, and here you are discussing horses and dogs...)
get close to the screen, relax your eyes (like you're looking off into the distance) and slowly pull away from the screen.
ReplyDeleteviewing techniques:
http://tinyurl.com/zeu9x
more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereogram
http://www.google.com/search?q=magic+eye+illusion
check out this *animated* stereogram too--- a fish swimming:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stereogram_Tut_Animated_Shark_Small.gif