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Eye Illusions
An eye illusion (also knowns as visual illusions or optical illusions) are visually perceived images that are deceptive or misleading. The images gathered by the eyes are processed by our brain to give a percept that does not tally with a actual measurement of the source. There are three types of eye illusions - literal eye illusions that cast images that are different from the images that make them, physiological eye illusions that are effects on our eyes and brain of excessive stimulation of a specific type - tilt, brightness, movement, color, and cognitive eye illusions in which the eye and brain make unconscious inferences.
Like color, the brain has the ability to interperate familiar objects as having a constant shape or size. For example a door is perceived as a rectangle regardless of how the perspective may change on the retina as it is opened and closed. However, unfamiliar objects don't always follow the same rules of shape constancy and might change when the perspective is changed.
Below are some examples of eye illusions:
Eye Illusions 1:
Do you notice the gray spots on the intersections?
Explained:
Eyes respond to a wide variety of light sources, and attempts to adjust to the present light levels. In this eye illusion, the contrast between the dark and light is so strong that the intersecting areas look gray.
Eye Illusions 2:
Are the red lines parallel?
The red lines are actually parallel in this eye illusion.
Explained:
This eye illusion is a version of the Zöllner's illusion of direction. There is no definitive explanation for this, however, it is believed that it is simply an error in the eye's ability to make sense of the image as it is projected into a three dimensional space. It can also be stated that the mind expects intersections to occur near a 90 degree angle and will actually "shift" the image to make it appear.
Eye Illusions 3:
Does this eye illusion seem to move and shift?
The red lines are actually parallel in this eye illusion.
Explained:
Because we live in a three dimensional environment, our eyes try to convert a two dimensional object into 3D. In this eye illusion, we attempt to make sense of the 2-D objects. The shading used is entirely incongruous. Our eyes lock onto a part of the image that looks appropriately shaded, and then see it disjointed with shading in other, areas. Our eyes keep jumping around trying to put together a 3D solution that would make the shading make sense, but it doesn't seem to work.
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