optical illusion

[_CaliforniaKid]

This thing blows me away every time I look at it. The squares labeled A and B are the same color.



Hard to believe, I know, but it's true. I actually had to prove it to myself by going into Microsoft Paint and copying a slice of one of the squares and pasting it next to the other so I could compare them side-by-side. Amazing the tricks our brains play on us.

It has to do with the way our brains understand three-dimensional light vectors. Basically, your brain guages how much light is being cast on an object and makes an inference about the actual color of that object. In this case, there isn't really any light or shadow, but your brain still draws the inference-- resulting in a distorted color perception.

I posted this over at MADB and some people seem to think I'm pulling their leg. I'm not. :-)

[_truth dancer]

OMG this is soooooooo amazing.

I can actually move my computer screen to view the actual colors and you are correct both A and B are the same exact color!

WOW!

It just shows how we take information into our brains, and how we process said information which may or may not necessarily be accurate!

Very cool... thanks for sharing this!

~dancer~

[_Who Knows]

No way. I KNOW that A and B are different colors. The spirit told me so. I don't care if your scientific experiment says otherwise.

.....

Wow, that's insane. I had to do the same thing, and cut the squares, and put them right next to each other. I still can't believe it. It's like you can't even force your brain to see that they're both the same color.

Thanks for posting. I love things like this.

[_moksha]

With enough confirmation bias, we may begin to believe this is true. by the way, this could lend a whole new approach in chess moves.

[_Blixa]

I love things like this, and I actually have an anecdote that makes it all Mormon related!

But in order to illustrate it with the optical illusion in question, I need to know how to embed an image here. I've tried to figure it out and come up blank. Lil' help?

[_Blixa]

Just noticed, CK, that you posted this on MAD. I'm dying with laughter over those who are questioning this over and over.

[_Who Knows]

I love things like this, and I actually have an anecdote that makes it all Mormon related!

But in order to illustrate it with the optical illusion in question, I need to know how to embed an image here. I've tried to figure it out and come up blank. Lil' help?

Is the pic already out on the internet? If so, you just copy the url, and paste it here in between the img tags.

If not, you can upload it to photobucket for free, and then do the same.

[_Blixa]

Thanks will try year suggestion...

[_Sethbag]

The quickest and easiest way to check the colors is to take a piece of scrap paper and just punch or cut a small hole in it. Then you can put the hole over B, blocking out all else, and move it to A, blocking out all else, and it's pretty easy to see they are the same.

I love optical illusions like this. I've seen web pages before with quite a few of them and they're really, really cool.

[_Blixa]

This optical illusion drove me nuts as a kid.

I was first shown it in grade school...possibly third grade. Our principle, who was a "dissenting" Mormon later excommunicated over the issue of Blacks and the priesthood (John W. Fitzgerald, RIP) had it in his office and it became an object of fascination among the teachers.

I could not see the "Jesus" in this at all. In fact, the picture came to freak me out and even scare me since I kind of conflated it with the Galaxy Being in the pilot episode of The Outer Limits. There's a short story in there somewhere.





(thanks to Gaz and Mr. Coffee for schooling me on how to get an image to embed.)