Mind Games

[rickoff]

Okay Pam, here's more:

Is this actually possible, and if so then what would make it possible?

[rickoff]

More with moving circles....

[rickoff]

Yellow Circles

Can you see yellow circles between the purple lines? If so, you see an illusion.
We only perceive these areas to be circles, but in reality no circles exist in this picture.
If you block out at least two of the purple lines adjacent to a "circle,"
you will see that the yellow coloration is consistent throughout the drawing.

[rickoff]

Staircase

Start at any stair step on this winding staircase,
then imagine yourself walking down the stairs, in a
clockwise rotation. What happens, and how
is this possible?

[rickoff]

The Black Dot

Look at this image from a steady distance of about 24 inches. Focus intently on the black dot at the center, and as time passes, the gray area surrounding the dot will begin to fade. When the gray has all but disappeared, move your head backwards suddenly, and what do you see?

[rickoff]

How Many Shelves?

Quickly now! How many shelves do you see below?



Did you say 4? You probably did if you looked at the left end of the stack.

Did you say 3? Probably, if you were looking at the right end.

Both answers are wrong, actually, because only two complete shelf structures can be found in this picture - at the top and bottom. Thus, the correct answer is 2.

[rickoff]

Tricky Bricks

Could you get a bricklayer to build this for you?

[rickoff]

On a Roll...

This is a still picture, yet when you look at it you will likely perceive that there are three raised areas that appear to be moving, like rollers.

[Jetijs]

I like these things:


















Try out. What do you see in them. You need to focus your eyes behind the picture to be able to see the 3d shape that these pictures hold

[rickoff]

Hard to believe, but...

Look at the picture below. There are two labeled squares - A and B. Which square is darker than the other?



Okay, that was easy. Obviously A is the darker square, right?


Wrong!


So does that mean B is the darker square?


Wrong again!


Both squares are the same shade of gray!


Now I know that you will not believe this, because no matter how you look at the picture above, square A definitely appears to be darker, but....


If you load the picture into a program such as Microsoft Paint, draw and label two square objects above and to the left of the checkerboard, separately sample the colors as found in squares A and B using the Eyedropper tool, and drop them into each square with the Fill tool, you will get the surprising result that I show below. I had to try this myself before I could agree that it's true.

[Aaron]

3d

I like these things:


Try out. What do you see in them. You need to focus your eyes behind the picture to be able to see the 3d shape that these pictures hold

Was wondering when someone was going to post these.

What is interesting is that you can see them in 3d in convex or concave.
Years ago, I could see them in convex (popping out from the page) and
sometimes concave (inverted into the page). Then at some point, it was
mostly concave and hardly ever convex and still like that today.

lol - just wrote that and then scrolled down to try the first one and
saw the 4 sided pyramid with spiral overlayed and it was convex! First
time in a long time I saw it pop out from the "page" instead of inverting
into the page.

lol - look at 2nd saw star pop out...went back now inverted and they're
all inverting for me now!

[rickoff]

Where is the blue side - front or rear?

The translucent box shown below has one blue side, two yellow sides, and three clear sides. Nearly everyone initially perceives that the blue side is located at the left rear of the box. There is an alternative perception, however, in which the blue side appears to be at the left front of the box. Can you see it both ways?

[rickoff]

Did that just move?

Look at the picture below. It is a still picture, but do you get the impression that the center square is moving slightly? To see the effect even more pronounced, use your mouse to grab the window's scroll bar and move it up and down. Alternatively, you can use a center-click scrolling mouse, or wheel mouse, to control the movement more slowly. Weird, huh?

[rickoff]

Is someone hiding?

Up close, you can see that it appears someone may be hiding behind these vertical lines. Now move back about 6 feet from your monitor and the image becomes much clearer. Who do you see?





At close range, our focus is mainly on the vertical lines. As we move further away, the lines become less prominent and the larger image becomes the focal point.

[rickoff]

Good one! [post #7]

It would be interesting to know what it means (left brain vs right brain) if one sees one word before the other.

For instance, when I first saw the graphic, I saw the word "Illusion." However, before I even read the rest of the post, I focused slightly differently and saw the word "optical." I wonder what the significance of seeing the words in that order means vs seeing the words in the opposite order.

I think that most people will see the word "ILLUSION" first, and that this is because we are used to normally reading dark text on a light background. The left brain is good at word recognition and reading, while the right brain is more focused on interpreting colors.