Thread: The BEST optical illusion you'll ever see. Yes, A & B really are the same color

I also thought the same...nahhh, they are different.

They look different to me.

Prove it!

Well Ok...give me a sec.....I'm seeing Double now.

I'll post the proof a little later.

it seems impossible but i erased the rest of the illusion n duplicared the squares n that's what i got...

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=17367

rob posted this before. even when you know what's happening you cannot make your mind see this right.

Originally Posted by Little Wing

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=17367

rob posted this before. even when you know what's happening you cannot make your mind see this right.

I see it as hollow.

i tried to n can for a few seconds but it pops out...

Originally Posted by min0 lee

I also thought the same...nahhh, they are different.

clearly they are different....clearly

The original image of the illusion.

The squares marked A and B
are the same shade of gray,
yet they appear different.

The original image plus two stripes.

By joining the squares marked A and B
with two vertical stripes of the same
shade of gray, it becomes apparent
that both squares are the same.

The visual system needs to determine the color of objects in the world. In this case the problem is to determine the gray shade of the checks on the floor. Just measuring the light coming from a surface (the luminance) is not enough: a cast shadow will dim a surface, so that a white surface in shadow may be reflecting less light than a black surface in full light. The visual system uses several tricks to determine where the shadows are and how to compensate for them, in order to determine the shade of gray "paint" that belongs to the surface.
The first trick is based on local contrast. In shadow or not, a check that is lighter than its neighboring checks is probably lighter than average, and vice versa. In the figure, the light check in shadow is surrounded by darker checks. Thus, even though the check is physically dark, it is light when compared to its neighbors. The dark checks outside the shadow, conversely, are surrounded by lighter checks, so they look dark by comparison.
A second trick is based on the fact that shadows often have soft edges, while paint boundaries (like the checks) often have sharp edges. The visual system tends to ignore gradual changes in light level, so that it can determine the color of the surfaces without being misled by shadows. In this figure, the shadow looks like a shadow, both because it is fuzzy and because the shadow casting object is visible.
The "paintness" of the checks is aided by the form of the "X-junctions" formed by 4 abutting checks. This type of junction is usually a signal that all the edges should be interpreted as changes in surface color rather than in terms of shadows or lighting.
As with many so-called illusions, this effect really demonstrates the success rather than the failure of the visual system. The visual system is not very good at being a physical light meter, but that is not its purpose. The important task is to break the image information down into meaningful components, and thereby perceive the nature of the objects in view.

no

Okay, after I manually convered up to darker squares around A and B with my fingers I saw that they were the same.

Originally Posted by lnvanry

no

Okay, after I manually convered up to darker squares around A and B with my fingers I saw that they were the same.

I also didn't belieeve it

If I squint I can see them as the same shade....

Close one eye for the Chaplin face and force yourself to see it as hollow....

Wow I was saying no way the whole time until I saw the proof. That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by P-funk

I see it as hollow.

Me too. I can't see at all what they're describing.

oh man that took me ages

nice find!

For some damn reason that image stuck in my head all night last night.Every time I would roll over there was that image it drove me nuts.I must have been to focused on it at some point yesterday.