Optical Illusions... Don'tcha just love em?!?!

1. Believe it or not, these lines are straight and parallel.

2. Another "false spiral" -- actually a series of concentric circles, hard as it may be to believe. To prove that there's no spiral, try tracing your finger around one of the circles. You'll see that it never moves inward or outward.

3. Which square is a lighter shade, A or B? Answer below...

Taken out of context, you can see A and B are the same shade. Our familiarity with light and shadow tricks us into thinking B is "actually" lighter than A. See here.




4. The two birds in this image are identical. Not just in size and shape, but in color too.

Don't believe it? Check this link to see the birds with out the background...

5. Lean up close to your monitor. What does this image say?

Try stepping back a few feet. What does it say now?

6. Here's a simple one. Parallel but the sure dont look like it, huh?

7. Can you tell where on this curve the lines are the longest, and where they are the shortest? Probably not, they are all the same length.

8. Believe it or not, this image is not animated. The effect persists only in your peripheral vision; if you focus on any one of the spirals, it will stop moving.

9. Stare at the center of this simple animation and you'll be convinced you're seeing a green circle moving around the edge. But are you? No there actually is no green circle, but your brain replaces the empty spot with a circle of the color opposite of magenta on the color wheel.

10. Try moving your mouse pointer down across this image, following the pointer closely with your eyes. You should see a rippling effect moving through the picture -- even though it's a completely static image!

11. Stare at the red dot long enough, and the grey stripes will disappear.

12. A few versions of "The Impossible Object."