Visual Illusions and The Eyes
If you’re looking at a computer screen or on a piece of paper optical illusions can be enthralling. These optical illusions provide a fascinating display of how our brain interprets sensory data in order to create a illusion of reality.
Lines that buckle and bend, shapes that pop out as well as color variations are the elements of optical illusions. Humans constantly detect the light, color and distance.
What is an Optical Illusion?
When an image irritates your brain and eyes this is known as an optical illusion. In just one-tenth of a second the visual system can send thousands of images to your brain. The brain works to organize this information by defining borders by analyzing contrasted areas or colors, and making guesses, based on previous experiences, what it’s supposed to be seeing.
Sometimes it’s not clear what’s wrong. This is not an issue with the brain or eyes. It’s simply a disagreement about what you’re looking at. Similar illusions can be perceived through other senses. For instance, if have a bug crawling up your arm, it may appear as if it’s going down.
There are three kinds of optical illusions: literal, mental and physiological. The physiological illusions seem to be moving but are in fact still images. They result from the brain stimulating its senses in an attempt to discern motion from an image that is still. They can be caused by the Ponzo Illusion where two lines appear to have different lengths.
Advertisement made using optical illusions – This is a great expert resource
Optical illusions can be found in museums, psychology classes and even by your hippie friend with posters on his walls, but you may not have considered that they could also be used in advertisements. They are extremely effective in grabbing people’s attention, creating a feeling of movement or, in some cases wrinkled eyelids.
The popular lingerie brand Jane Pain recently launched a campaign with optical illusions in the shape of bums and thighs covering their clothing. If you examine them closely, you’ll notice that the body parts not dressed are actually elbows and knees.
Another cool optical illusion that’s been used in advertising is the Kit Kat truck, which creates the illusion that the driver is hanging in a hammock rather than driving the truck. This illusion is a great way to attract attention and encourages them to take time out with an Kit Kat. The ad employs perceptual priming and is set to establish a positive association with the brand.
Artistic optical illusions
Optical illusions are an increasingly popular component of modern art, with works like Bridget Riley’s swirls of spots and stripes, and MC Escher’s endless staircase as well as the Penrose triangle being well known examples. Since the time of the Renaissance optical effects have been an integral part of art. Artists made use of the camera obscura technique and linear perspective to create stunning trompe-l’oeil illusions.
Op art, which is typically geometric, is non-representational. It makes use of lines or shapes and blocks of colors to create the illusion of motion concealed images, expanding or bending. The work of Vasarely and his 1965 exhibit The Responsive Eye brought it to a new level in popularity during the 1960s.
Influenced by the op art movement, the painter Joseph Albers experimented with how colors interact and influence one another. His Homage to the Square series of paintings employs colored squares that are layered on top of each other to investigate how different colors impact our perceptions of form and the sense of depth.
Optical illusions in music
Musical illusions are among the newest optical illusions to be noticed. The illusion involves the use of a set of musical notes. When they are played back in tandem on a piano they create the illusion of lyrics for a song even though there’s none!
These clever illusions show how your brain utilizes information from your senses make a mental picture of the world around you. If this happens naturally, or through design our brains are extremely strong.
Artists such as Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely and Jesus Rafael Soto experimented with illusionary effects in their art. Soto went even further by creating immersive installations that blurred the distinction between artist and viewer and invited viewers to engage with his work.