Motion Induced Blindness

I found this on 52 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena, by Michael Bach his page has a wide array of interactive Flash illusions, very well done. Michael Bach refers to "Motion Induced Blindness" by Yoram Bonneh, Alexander Cooperman and Dov Sagi as the source for this illusion. They say the following about this illusion:

Motion Induced Blindness (MIB) is a phenomenon of "visual disappearance" in which salient visual stimuli disappear as if erased in front of the observers eyes. This demo demonstrates several properties of this phenomenon. It is implemented as a set of GIF animation and can only be appreciated if the apparent motion appears smooth or almost smooth. In general, fixate in the center or lower part of the screen without moving the eyes, pay attention to the moving pattern and observe what happens to the static yellow dots.

READ MORE - Motion Induced Blindness

The Impossible Cube, Crate or Box

Sometimes the impossible is possible. I have seen this cube done in many ways. The drawing is easy but I have seen this crate actually constructed. The one of real wood is very real looking, how was it done? Actually constructed? or a photoshop creation?



The box can be constructed as long as it is viewed from the proper angle. Continue further down the page for a few different real physical constructs of this illusion. The Lady holding the box below I found on Amazing Art.



Below is Jerry Andrus demonstrating his construction of the impossible crate and exposing how he accomplished this illusion. (Found on Amos Storkey's page)



Click on the below image to view a larger movie of this construct (approx. 1 meg). Found on Natis' site.

READ MORE - The Impossible Cube, Crate or Box

Inverted Game Board

The below illusion was done by Eric Piotrowski, he took his inspiration from the classic impossible chess set. His site is full of 3d art based on the game Go.

READ MORE - Inverted Game Board

The Enigma

The below image was done in 1984 by French artist Isia Leviant. The complete explanation for the activity around the circles is still not understood.



Stare at the center of the figure for a while. Some ‘scintillating’ activity will build up in the violet and blue annuli. Some observers also report a circular rotation within these regions; things will begin to “run around in circles”.

READ MORE - The Enigma

The Green Square

I found this at the "Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics" They worked In collaboration with Dan Kersten, Minnesota, USA to demonstrate the below illusion.

If the cast shadow of an object is moving, we assume that the object is moving and not the light source... ...A moving shadow induces a motion in depth of a stationary object (green square is not moving).

Just in case it is not yet understood. The green square above is absolutely still. It does not move. The shadow on the other hand is animated and does move across the image including changing the color slightly of the green square. This moving shadow creates the illusion of movement of the green square.

Update: Try this. Take out your ID card and cover half of the green square from the bottom left diagonal to the top right. Now it is apparent that the square is not moving. Very interesting effect.

Update 2: I just noticed something I had previously not realized. It looks like the shading of the green square changes. It seems as the shadow moves the tinting and shading on top of the green square is also manipulated to complete the illusion. The truth is not only doesn't the green square move but it is a constant non-varying shade of green. These two illusions here and here can explain why it appears as if the shading on the green square changes.

READ MORE - The Green Square

The Haze Illusion

From the same team at MIT that brought you the Checker shadow illusion here is a flash movie demonstration that outlines how the some shades of color can be made to look different when the context of what it around them changes.

READ MORE - The Haze Illusion

Pachinko illusion

Hold on to your seats here is yet another illusion that has to be prefixed with the statement that this is not an animated file. If this looks like it is in motion to you (as it does to me) then you might be suffering from an Optical Illusion.

Click picture for full effect.

"Pachinko"*

*One of the games Japanese people prefer

Yellowish-green circles appear to scintillate. Moreover, rings of balls appear to rotate.

Copyright A.Kitaoka 2004 (June 25)

READ MORE - Pachinko illusion