Illusion of the Year

Whether you use these as a hook at the beginning or as a fun activity at the end, illusions are always an attention-grabber for students, made even better when we understand the visual and brain mechanics behind them.  A colleague shared this site with me.  We have a new "Illusion of the Year" and it is pretty cool.

Below is a screenshot from their site, but I will urge you to check out their site wonderful illusion wares at:http://illusionoftheyear.com/

Happy illusioning!

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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The Spinning Lady Illusion Updated

One of my students from last year found this and shared it with me. Thank you Harleen. :)

It is an update of the spinning lady illusion to make it more visible for each direction.  The original was from this link:
https://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_la72c3KYmq1qabovao1_r1_500.gif 

In the comments section, there were requests to have the illusion explained.  Here are a few excellent links that explain this and other illusions.  Enjoy :)

http://www.moillusions.com/spinning-girl-illusion-explanation/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_Dancer
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/left-brain-right-brain-and-the-spinning-girl/
http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ig/Optical-Illusions/spinning-dancer-illusion.htm
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/the-truth-about-the-spinning-dancer/?_r=0



Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Stunning Visual Effects--New Software and Hardware

This is a must-see.  Share with your students--this includes visual illusions, robotics, art, and more.  Too cool for words.

Box from Bot & Dolly on Vimeo.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Visual Jokes in Art History

Psychologists were not the first people to be interested in visual illusions nor the use of illusions or multiple interpretations within a painting.  The January 2011 issue of Smithsonian has a great article called "Feast for the Eyes" along with pictures about the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo who did such work for the Hapsburg dynasty (in the 1500s) who had humor enough to appreciate his work.  Check out the article at the link above-quite fascinating.

If you like the work of Arcimboldo, check out his complete works on this site.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Rob Gonsalves--Artist We All Know, But Don't

If you have been teaching psychology for very long, you've undoubtedly run into the work of Rob Gonsalves, a Canadian painter whose work is quite well known for the illusions that it contains.  Below are some samples.  A large portion of his work can be found at this link on Discover Galleries.

There are dozens more on the website linked above.


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Figure-Ground Artwork--3-dimensional

Scene360 has another nice set of examples of art that have figure-ground aspects built into them.  Great art.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Faces on Walls--from Scene360

This next site has the work of the graffiti artist Alexandre Farto (a.k.a. Vhils) who makes portraits by removing parts of walls and the use of paints.  The 3-D effect seems dramatic in this 2-D representation

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Hero and Villain on Scene360.com

While searching for something else, I ran across this set of illusions/ambigrams that contain both the heroes and villains in the drawings.  The artist is Simon Page.  The site is scene360.com/

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Hidden Meanings in Popular Logos

Just discovered a blog site called "Wallet Pop" while looking for some visual illusions in popular culture.  That was when I ran across this beauty: Hidden Meanings in Popular Logos on walletpop.com

This site also explains why the logos are special.  I claim no ownership of this idea, but am happy to share their collection of images that I know your kids will find fascinating.  In the Fed Ex logo, there is an arrow in the ground of the Ex figure. 

In this next image, the Big Ten created an "11" in the ground when they added Penn State. I've looked at that logo all my life and never noticed it.  Hmmmmmmm

I will be posting more illusion sites this week that have flown below our radar.

Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Top Ten Incredible Sound Illusions

List Universe (Listverse) at http://listverse.com/ produces a multitude of interesting lists. They try to "focus on lists that intrigue and educate, specializing in the bizarre or less-known trivia". While Listverse does accept a few submissions from the general public, they are responsible for researching and creating most of the listings. One such list is the "Top Ten Incredible Sound Illusions" at http://listverse.com/2008/02/29/top-10-incredible-sound-illusions/.

Please be aware the website includes advertisement and space for comments from visitors. Some of these comments include inappropriate language for a school setting. Depending on the policies of your school/school district, it might be unwise for a teacher to refer students to this site. In addition, the site recommends listening to many of the sound illusions using a set of headphones or stereo speakers.

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Queen's Speech

Many teachers use the "Vases or Faces" illusion when discussing figure/ground illusions, including the special vase designed for Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee as seen on the right.

GrandIllusions.com has developed a short (1:11 minutes) video clip at http://www.grand-illusions.com/opticalillusions/queens_speech/ explaining and demonstrating the vase.

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Teller - Cogitive Psychology of Magic

Anyone seen a Penn and Teller show? I'd love to see them live someday, but until then I'll just continue to read and be fascinated by their original, skeptical perspective on the universe. This article from WIRED about the connections Teller sees between magic, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience might be a great way to "wind down" after the AP exam? Fascinating stuff about how magicians use principles from perception to "fool" audiences. There is a group of neuroscientists at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona working with magicians to identify these principles (the group already published their research in Nature)

Here's a quote that provides a sense of what the article is about:
"By reverse-engineering these deceptions, Macknik hopes to illuminate the mental loopholes that make us see a woman get sawed in half or a rabbit appear out of thin air even when we know such stuff is impossible. Magicians were taking advantage of these cognitive illusions long before any scientist identified them."

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Optical Illusion Websites

Do a Google search for "optical illusions" and you will get almost two million listings. If anything, there is an overabundance of websites. A few include:

The Planet Perplex Website at http://www.planetperplex.com/en/index.html.

The Might Illusions Blog at http://www.moillusions.com/ has postings going back to February of 2006.

Many people love Michael Bach's site at http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/, especially the following eyes.

The Exploratorium in San Francisco has their illusion exhibit at
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/f_exhibits.html

Please leave your favorite illusion website in the comments section below.

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