Visual illusions are particularly interesting phenomena providing insights into mechanisms of how our brain process (mostly) visual stimuli.
All of you might experience illusion of self-motion when travelling by train, perceiving the train moving when the neighbouring train starts moving.
Visual Illusion Contest is an annual event that celebrates scientific endeavour to find new illusions and explain the mechanisms by means of which they work.
In 2010, Jan Kremlacek, a Czech scientist won a third prize for his illusion of rotating double-helix.
One of the winners of this year- the team from prof. Tangen lab- demonstrated an excellent illusion of how a combination of presented stimuli can change the final percept (similarly as Gestalt school of psychology pointed to a century ago). In the video, faces of celebrities turn "ugly" when perceived while focused on fixation cross (a cross in the centre of scene one has to attend).
The explanation could be that using two very different stimuli simultaneously, they can exaggerate a particular feature of each of the pair. More illusions from this and also past years can be found here.
The original illusion:
The altered version (with celebrities):
Now, one could also hope that the opposite effect will be found one day too.
All of you might experience illusion of self-motion when travelling by train, perceiving the train moving when the neighbouring train starts moving.
Visual Illusion Contest is an annual event that celebrates scientific endeavour to find new illusions and explain the mechanisms by means of which they work.
In 2010, Jan Kremlacek, a Czech scientist won a third prize for his illusion of rotating double-helix.
One of the winners of this year- the team from prof. Tangen lab- demonstrated an excellent illusion of how a combination of presented stimuli can change the final percept (similarly as Gestalt school of psychology pointed to a century ago). In the video, faces of celebrities turn "ugly" when perceived while focused on fixation cross (a cross in the centre of scene one has to attend).
The explanation could be that using two very different stimuli simultaneously, they can exaggerate a particular feature of each of the pair. More illusions from this and also past years can be found here.
The original illusion:
Now, one could also hope that the opposite effect will be found one day too.
I´ve found out this also works in "real life" - when you look at a person´s face the way you don´t perceive them directly (rather at the side of your visual field), their faces can alter profoundly. But, at least for me, not always in a worsening manner...
ReplyDeleteI am curious if someone else has discovered this, and if yes - if you e.g. attribute any meaning to what you see? :)
i love the double helix! it's an amazing example of how the brain can generate amazing models of movement from meaningless dots of light.
ReplyDeletebarbora> are you sure your peripheral vision isn't distorted? i thought the illusion came from the comparison between various faces - i have no idea how your experience can arise.