Visual illusions are an example of how our eyes can view something inaccurately. A few months ago I was on Facebook and saw an optical illusion that appeared to be the singer Beyonce. The instructions said to stare at the red dot on the woman’s nose for 30 seconds…then to turn to a plain surface (wall or ceiling) and blink repeatedly. If you have done this you should see a picture of the woman on the wall. Our prior knowledge and our own perception also helps give a face to this person. Many say it is Beyonce such as myself but others have mentioned Kim Kardashion and Mona Lisa. I find it fascinating how our visual system can absorb this information from a picture and replace it to blank surface where nothing is there. What is happening in this illusion is called afterimage, which is where you over stimulate your eyes by staring at the picture…then when you look away you are able to see the picture yet in different colors. It is said that the image is actually Deepika Padukone who is an Indian actress…this proves how our experience and prior knowledge influences our perception as well.
I've always liked these types of illusions, I just never knew how they worked until now. Each time I tried doing it her face appeared a little blurry on the wall, so I can definitely see where people would associate a familiar face or a celebrity to fill in the blank.
ReplyDeleteThis is so similar to the flag picture that is in three different colors than the flag. When you look at it on the wall after staring at the other picture, it looks like the red white and blue American flag!
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