We all know that sometimes our brain isn’t the most objective when it comes to color or shapes. That is where we get optical illusions from.
The internet has made them quite a popular topic of discussion…remember the infamous white and gold dress that people were convinced was black and blue? As it turns out, we can’t always trust our brains to properly process what our eyes are seeing.
As explained by SYFY WIRE, the use of context clues such as lighting, the color of nearby objects, etc., are all used by your brain to discern the color of certain items.
If you happen to then move that item in and out of various locations, it tricks your brain into thinking that the color is changing.
A great example of this is the optical illusion developed by a psychology professor at Ritsumeikan University in Osaka, Japan, Akiyoshi Kitaoka. The optical illusion by Kitaoka is a video that demonstrates an orange square on top of a sheet of paper with gradient transitions that go from red on the left, all the way to yellow on the right.
When the square lines up in the middle, it looks invisible because it matches the orange background.
However, as you move it along to the yellow background, it becomes a darker color – even appearing to be red. Then, when it gets moved over to the red region, it appears a much lighter orange than before.
Watch the example video below:
Kitaoka has devoted a whole website to showing off different optical illusions and explaining the perceptions behind them.
What do you think of the optical illusion? Let us know!