| 143 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomenaby Michael Bach[other language: Deutsch] |
2021-02-14: Color from contour
More…2015-10 | Fernsehen SWR1 “Leute” |
2015-04 | Schweizer Fernsehen |
2012-03 | Focus 1 |
2012-03 | Focus 2 |
2012-03 | Focus 3 |
2012-03 | Focus 4 |
2011-07 | Demand from China so high that my domain was down a day |
2009-10 | in abc News |
2008-09 | portrayed by Die ZEIT |
2008-04 | referenced by NY Times |
2007-11 | portrayed in fudder |
2007-11 | daVinci–3sat |
2007-10 | Planetarium Freiburg |
2007-06 | Bayerisches Fernsehen |
2006-09 | Dugg |
2006-08 | Focus online |
2005-10 | PC Magazine |
2005-08 | BBC Online |
2005-08 | the Mac Observer |
2005-07 | Planetarium Freiburg |
2005-06 | a > 2 million hits/days spike |
2005-05 | “Image of the week” by Viperlib |
2005-05 | ≥ 1 million hits/day |
2005-02 | “Web Pick” by Yahbooks |
2004-12 | 10 cool sites award |
2004-11 | TV–Discoveries |
2004-11 | NSDL Reports Life Sci |
2004-10 | Highlighted in Science |
2004-10 | ≥ 500 |
2004-09 | Wikipedia |
2004-03 | Nürnberger Nachrichten |
2004-03 | Brainweek |
2004 | Yahoo Directory |
2003-09 | ≥ 100 |
They also teach us about our visual perception, and its limitations. My selection emphazises beauty and interactive experiments; I also attempt explanations of the underlying visual mechanisms where possible.
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»Optical illusion« sounds derogative, as if exposing a malfunction of the visual system. Rather, I view these phenomena as highlighting particular good adaptations of our visual system to its experience with standard viewing situations. These experiences are based on normal visual conditions, and thus under unusual contexts can lead to inappropriate interpretations of a visual scene (=“Bayesian interpretation of perception”).
If you are not a vision scientist, you might find my explanations too highbrow. That is not on purpose, but vision research simply is not trivial, like any science. So, if an explanation seems gibberish, simply enjoy the phenomenon 😉.
More here: Bach & Poloschek (2006) Optical Illusions Primer (PDF); on the programming: Bach 2014 (contact me for a personal PDF).
No. The web is full of claims that your personality (right- or left brain dominated, intro- vs. extroverted, stressed or not, or whatever) can be deduced from your ability to see some given illusion. However, there is no reliable scientific data that suggests this. That’s just click-baiting BS. There is some influence of age, though – but you don’t need illusions to know your age… So: Don’t let it irk you if you don’t see all the phenomena described. For many illusions, there is a percentage of people with perfectly normal vision who just don’t see them, mostly for reasons currently unknown.
Thanking Inga who created new artwork (2005-04) for the ‘eyes’. More from the Bach Family: Maren.
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