Optical illusions are interesting because it shows that your own eyes and brain can deceive you. Images mess with your mind as what you thought you saw wasn’t exactly how it was in reality. A bewildering optical illusion wowed the internet this week and it will definitely question what you are seeing.
Alice Proverbio, who is a cognitive neuroscience professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca (braggart), shared an optical illusion that will completely f*ck with your brain. You’ll notice that the image appears to be moving, but it is not. This is not a GIF. This is a motionless image. The image does need to be viewed on a larger screen and probably not get the same effect when viewed on a small smartphone display.
Amazing motion illusion.
V5 is firing due to V4 saturation! pic.twitter.com/oNgxRXXN3f— Alice M. Proverbio (@AliceProverbio) October 12, 2018
How the f*ck is that not a GIF? This image moves more than Chucky Brown during his NBA career.
So why the f*ck does this image look like it is moving when it isn’t? I’d gladly explain the scientific reasons for this optical illusion, but since we have a fellow expert, I’ll let Alice Proverbio have the honor of dropping some knowledge on those who aren’t familiar with neuroscience.
V5 (or MT) is the cortical area devoted to motion processing, while V4 is devoted to color and shape (like the pentagon) processing. V4 neurons are saturated so much that the basal/rest firing rate of MT neurons is interpreted as an actual sensory signal
— Alice M. Proverbio (@AliceProverbio) October 12, 2018
It basically represents an example of Competition within the visual cortex, whenever a signal is attenuated or suppressed for whatever reason other inputs get the chance to be represented at higher cognitive levels, thus accessing percipient awareness
— Alice M. Proverbio (@AliceProverbio) October 12, 2018
yes! a lot of feedback and feedforward interactions! pic.twitter.com/uMnZCuNHdu
— Alice M. Proverbio (@AliceProverbio) October 12, 2018
That’s exactly what I was going to say.
Here are some similar optical illusions that demonstrate that your eyes and brain can sometimes deceive you.
https://twitter.com/TheRaverBaby/status/1051452618579603456
This month's freebie #Moho file: https://t.co/D3ddpXMq9o #OpticalIllusion #MadeWithMoho 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Amm3roZSt0
— AnimeStudioTutor.com (@as_tutor) October 13, 2018
The left side and the right side of this lattice have the same number of black dots. pic.twitter.com/UoiztliNtm
— Cliff Pickover (@pickover) October 13, 2018
There are twelve black dots at the intersections in this image. Your brain won’t let you see them all at once. pic.twitter.com/ig6P980LOT
— Will Kerslake (@wkerslake) September 11, 2016
— Optical Illusions (@illusions_optcl) December 28, 2013
You didn’t think I wouldn’t hit you off with some Geto Boys did you?
[Gizmodo]