The most stunningly simple optical illusion I've ever seen.

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Capt Caveman

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
Originally posted by: lokiju
My brain is broken now :(
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Same here. I've actually used pieces of paper to block out the bordering squares and they still appear to be different shades of gray to me.
 
alkemyst

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
pictures of ATOT'er with hot chicks are similar types of illusions.

The ATOTer is so hard on the eyes it makes the chick hot...take the guy out of the picture and you have a regular Shallow Hal situation on your hands.

Some things cannot be unsawed.
 
T

trmiv

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
14,670
18
81
The fact that I KNOW the colors are the same but I still can't convince my brain to see it is frustrating as hell.
 
B

BrownTown

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2005
5,314
1
0
Its simple really, your brain purposefully highlights differences in colour. In real life it doesn't really pay to be able to determine exact RGB values for something you see, what matters is being able to determine differences and edges and the like.
 
Throckmorton

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,829
3
0
Originally posted by: NanoStuff
Originally posted by: lyssword
wow. I guess the brain looks at the whole picture instead of trying to compare small details
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The brain perception of shade and color is relative, this allows it to see the 'true' appearance of the object disregarding shifts in illumination and hue.

The same is true for color. A blue but red-shifted object in a red-shifted surrounding will appear more blue than it really is. When you look at it in a neutral surrounding then you will see it's actually more red than you were led to believe. The brain in this case subtracts the common color so you can see them more naturally. This makes perfect sense for example during sunset, so that you can still clearly see green leaves as green even though the amount of green light they are giving off is minimal.

In this case you can still see white as white despite the shadow being cast over it.

The illusion makes it seem like our brains are easily deceived. In reality this makes our brains particularly hard to deceive because we can see right through such impedances to determine the real nature of the object. Had both squares looked the same, in the natural world this would actually be a flawed perception because once the shadow is removed it becomes clear they are not. Only on a static raster image you are led to believe there is something defective about this.
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:thumbsup:
 
M

mh47g

Senior member
May 25, 2007
741
0
0
I can see the colors as the same... It's because of the shadow made by the cylinder.

Once you convince yourself that the B square is not the same shade as the lighter gray squares on the block, it's easy.
 
I

imported_Devine

Golden Member
Oct 10, 2006
1,293
0
0
Originally posted by: Modeps
Originally posted by: thetxstang
Sorry, I'm still in disbelief (i.e., shens). I've stood 30+ feet back from my LCD, where both the A and B letters are indiscernible, and I still see a marked difference in color. I've also stared at the squares for more than a minute head on, making myself try to see the same shade, and still I don't. I'm not a Photoshop user, but I'm still having trouble believing this.
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You cant call shens on something that's proven.
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If its on the internet you can call shens. "proven" and the "internet" are very hyprocritical terms imo :)
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124
Damn, I didn't believe it till I opened it in Photoshop....

I think it's because the surrounding "black" boxes become a lot darker in that area.
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I too had to confirm it with a photo editor. Crazy.

Wikipedia has a nice diagram - check out the "gradient." :D (They also have a PNG version of the original image, so there aren't any compression artifacts.)
If you stare at the center of the connecting rectangle, soon the gradient illusion starts to go away, and it all truly looks like the same shade of gray.
 
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T9D

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
5,320
6
0
Sorry man but I've looked over this over and over. There is different colors and shades. There is no mistaking this.

I've even physically blocked off the the surrounding squares with my hands. They are different.

Edit: Here I put all my comments together:

I know I gotcha on that one. It is neat how it all works. But like I said earlier I noticed some inconsistencies in the artifacts (which could slightly alter the perception). (roll the mouse over and over looking really close and you'll see the artifact colors and contrast change) But a minor quibble. Looking at the big picture I do get it.

Although one last minor thing I'd like to point out. By putting the different colored "A" and "B" in the image you are technically changing the overall color ever so slightly on a whole. Because your eyes will blend those together with the base color. Much how yellow and blue dots will appear green. So technically as a whole they are ever so slightly different. Add that with the ever so slight compression differences and depending on your distance each box will in fact have a sublte different light signature on a whole. Yes very very slight I admit but could still be perceivable. Thats all I'm getting at. But yes the effect does still stand. And it's quite neat.

Just for fun this is what my camera saw. The overall amount of light that reached it for each block was in fact different as a whole once it reached the camera. Much how it may when it reaches your eye. Text

I get how the effect works and all. Just something to consider though! From a strict standpoint the blocks are subtly different the way it is set up and implemented. Definitely does fool your eyes though into thinking they are very different.
 
T

TheNinja

Lifer
Jan 22, 2003
12,207
1
0
I squinted my eyes nearly shut so I just saw blobs of color. Only then did it become evident that they were the same. It appears that only the 1 "lighter" block is actually darker due to the shadow. The other lighter blocks really are lighter.....right???? hmmm....
 
ThePresence

ThePresence

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
27,727
16
81
Originally posted by: v1001
Sorry man but I've looked over this over and over. They are very clearly different colors and shades. There is no mistaking this.

I've even physically blocked off the the surrounding squares with my hands. They are different. When I run my mouse over it it clearly is a different picture and color that they put in there for the one block to then make it look the same.
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You are wrong.
The guy who created this is Edward Adelson, a professor of Vision Science at MIT. He probably knows what he's talking about. Not to mention that Photoshop absolutely confirms it.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Originally posted by: v1001
Sorry man but I've looked over this over and over. They are very clearly different colors and shades. There is no mistaking this.

I've even physically blocked off the the surrounding squares with my hands. They are different. When I run my mouse over it it clearly is a different picture and color that they put in there for the one block to then make it look the same.
Click to expand...
Load it into a photo editor, and copy and paste. Or, if you've got an editor with the ability to "pick" colors from an image, do that. GIMP says that both are exactly the same color.

Edit: Darn you, Presence! I guess that's what I get for having a tab open for awhile without refreshing it.
 
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