A compilation of the best visual illusions
Visual illusions are a fascinating phenomenon, being both artistic and informative on how the brain works. Here you will find a compilation of some of the mind-blowing optical illusions.
The main source for visual illusions
Welcome to my illusion website!https://t.co/1DJIwbj0P9 pic.twitter.com/SYiK0JvJJl
— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) April 23, 2020
Comic
A perceptual illusion walks into the bar... pic.twitter.com/svD1rtRcpT
— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) August 18, 2020
Illusion of deformation
Another amazing illusion from the amazing @jagarikin: The ring on the left seems to be bigger and expanding, the one on the right smaller and contracting... but they're both the same size and neither is expanding or contracting at all. 😮 pic.twitter.com/dchwX994PG
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) August 16, 2020
Illusion of rotation
回転して見えたらRT pic.twitter.com/WBoG7rAD2f
— じゃがりきん (@jagarikin) July 24, 2020
Illusion of colour
Both people are the same colour in all three panels - an effect called 'colour constancy' pic.twitter.com/CacNuJo54H
— Gavin Buckingham IS WORKING TO CONTRACT (@DrGBuckingham) July 4, 2020
Illusion of sound escalation
Something about the continous fall here reminded me of thishttps://t.co/ABeEmdXeNK
— Amogha Udupa the Chief (@amg_omg) July 3, 2020
Illusion of movement angle
The curveball illusion
— 〈 Berger | Dillon 〉 (@InertialObservr) July 2, 2020
The ball is falling straight down, but try not looking directly at it pic.twitter.com/ydJlzfZb0F
Illusion of shape
When you fixate on the yellow point, do you see dark triangles connecting the discs to the yellow point? Thanks to @Pascallisch, my old broken movie of the "spokes illusion" has been fixed. pic.twitter.com/edvLLXcShO
— @alexh@fediscience.org Holcombe (@ceptional) July 3, 2020
Illusion of deformation
None of these lines are any more spikey than the others - really powerful illusion by Takahashi (2017) pic.twitter.com/Xr8ncWNNGE
— Gavin Buckingham IS WORKING TO CONTRACT (@DrGBuckingham) July 1, 2020
Illusion of colour
In a classic visual illusion, two identical dots look very dissimilar against backgrounds of different colors. A new BCS-led study suggests that this visual processing takes place outside the brain’s visual cortex, possibly within the retina. https://t.co/D2NIZJUEye pic.twitter.com/WrfE4qTmOh
— Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (@MIT) June 17, 2020
Illusion of different rotation direction
If this does not mess with your visual system, I don't know what will... pic.twitter.com/vwxATYx39x
— Tim Kietzmann (@TimKietzmann) June 15, 2020
Illusion of different luminance
Both pears are the same colour and luminance, despite one seeming brighter than the other pic.twitter.com/KkUJlTI82R
— Gavin Buckingham IS WORKING TO CONTRACT (@DrGBuckingham) May 17, 2020
Illusion of a ’light-like’ brightness
And as I have tweeted before, your pupil actually constricts when you look at this illusion, just as it would if you looked at a bright light. Here's a paper looking at this phenomenon. It's a wonderful illusion.https://t.co/EAxK4hGLAH https://t.co/aClvekrSN6
— Mel_Goodale (@action_brain) May 17, 2020
Illusion of deformation
「サクラソウの丘」
— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) April 14, 2020
The checker pattern is aligned vertically and horizontally, but the image appears to bulge out. pic.twitter.com/CyCmTPYaDz
Illusion of colour
This is a black and white photograph. Only the lines have colour.
— Lionel Page (@page_eco) July 27, 2019
What you “see” is what your 🧠 predicts the reality to be, given the imperfect information it gets. pic.twitter.com/gwttlcC2Zw
Illusion of deformation
Adding small crosses at each intersection makes this perfectly normal grid all wonky! pic.twitter.com/DONyCqyh9A
— Gavin Buckingham IS WORKING TO CONTRACT (@DrGBuckingham) April 11, 2020
Illusion of different movement speed
Interesting illusion. The upper rectangle appears to be moving faster. https://t.co/LI9Eh7vezy
— Mel_Goodale (@action_brain) April 7, 2020
Illusion of different rotation direction
Rings appear to rotate clockwise, though they actually rotate counterclockwise.
— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) April 2, 2020
(a demo of "reversed phi" produced with phenomenal phenomena) pic.twitter.com/NyfTd12eAl
Illusion of movement
Extremely strong effect. One of the best I’ve seen https://t.co/hCK0URgWrd
— Thomas Lin Pedersen (@thomasp85) February 15, 2020
Illusion of different size
I'm biased here, but this is one of the strongest visual illusions I have ever seen.
— Chris Said (@Chris_Said) January 3, 2020
None of the colored lines are moving. pic.twitter.com/QcW3u6WFB4
Illusion of colour
Stare at the centre and see green which is never there! pic.twitter.com/kHys53GbUz
— Gavin Buckingham IS WORKING TO CONTRACT (@DrGBuckingham) September 15, 2019
Illusion of different luminance
The word "Gray" is always exactly the same shade of gray. pic.twitter.com/KYhk3xE0r5
— Robert Volcic (@VolcicR) June 18, 2019
Do you know other cool visual illusions? Let me know in the comments below! 🤗
Thanks for reading! Do not hesitate to tweet and share this post and don’t forget to join me on Twitter 🐦 @Dom_Makowski
Dominique Makowski
Lecturer in Psychology
Trained as neuropsychologist and CBT psychotherapist, I am currently working as a lecturer at the University of Sussex, on the neuroscience of reality perception.