What's going on?

Certain patterns confuse your eyes and brain, causing you to misjudge the size of a circle, or the length of a line. Though hundreds of optical illusions have been recorded and studied over the last century, people still do not agree on why these patterns cause errors in perception. Scientists are fascinated by illusions because, by figuring out how the eye and brain can be tricked, they can better understand the normal workings of the visual system. As Purkinje, a noted 19th-century Czech physiologist, put it: "Deceptions of the senses are the truths of perception."

 

This exhibit requires the newest Shockwave plug-in
and a Power PC or Pentium processor for all aspects of
exhibit to work.

This online exhibit is still under development
comments or suggestions e-mail:

JavaScript must be enabled to display this email address.

The original Changing Illusions was developed by David Gale,
Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley.

 



©1998