Optical Illusions: Tricking the Eye

Optical Illusions  Optical illusions trick your brain because they rely on the fact that your brain expects to see things a certain way, the way it sees most things.  When we trick our eyes however, we are often abusing a physical weakness that our eyes have.

Our Eyes Weaknesses  The most obvious weakness is that our eyes get tired if we use them too much.  This happens when we look at something too bright, or stare at something for too long.

Take a look at the picture of the Queen. It’s the Queen, but black and white have been switched. Stare at one point in the center of the picture of the Queen for about one minute, then look at the blank white square just to her right. In the blank square you now see a picture of the Queen, but with black and white they way they should be.

WHY… When we look at the black and white picture of the Queen, the black parts don’t wear out the light receptors in our eyes, because they’re not very bright, but the white parts of the picture do start to wear out the light detectors in our eyes. Then, when we look away, we see black where our light receptors have been worn out, and the white background where the light receptors were not worn out. When we look at the black and white picture of the Queen, the black parts don’t wear out the light receptors in our eyes, because they’re not very bright, but the white parts of the picture do start to wear out the light detectors in our eyes. Then, when we look away, we see black where our light receptors have been worn out, and the white background where the light receptors were not worn out.

 Once again, your brain is just trying to relate what it sees to what it’s used to, and your brain is used to seeing a 3D world. These drawings are only black, white and grey markings, but when our brain sees them it thinks they look like 3D shapes it’s seen before, even though the shapes are impossible in 3D.

Seeing is Deceiving  A little scary hey? -We put so much trust into our sight, it is nearly always the most dominant of our senses, and yet it can be tricked so easily!!