CAN you tell which of these table tops is bigger?
To the untrained eye, the two tables are a completely different size and shape.
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This baffling image was created by Roger Shepard and fools our brains into thinking the tables are different sizes and shapesCredit: Reddit
The one on the left is obviously long and narrow and the one on the right is square, right?
Wrong.
This is actually an optical illusion and both table tops are exactly the same size.
The puzzling image, known as Shepard’s tabletop illusion, was first published in 1981 by Roger Shepard, who called it Turning the Tables and is now trending on Reddit.
The illusion tricks our brains into seeing the two tables as different by using the positions of the legs, reports Digg.
The one that looks longer is positioned vertically, while the other is horizontal, fooling us into thinking they are not alike.
However, when the table tops are removed from the legs and placed on top of each other it is clear they are the same shape.
According to Shepard, our depth perception is easily tricked and the effect is enhanced when the parallelograms grow legs to become tables.
Researchers at The New York University for Neural Science say that is because we want to see everything as a 3D object, making it harder for the brain to interpret two-dimensional images.
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The table tops still look a different shape when the coloured parallelograms are addedCredit: Reddit
They said: “If there is an opportunity to interpret a drawing or an image as a three-dimensional object, we do.
“The two table tops above have precisely the same two-dimensional shape on the page, except for a rigid rotation.
“Nobody believes this when they first look at the illusion. The illusion shows that we don’t see the two-dimensional shape drawn on the page, but instead we see the three-dimensional shape of the object in space.”
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The shapes are twisted round and the legs removed to show the illusionCredit: Reddit
Because we are geared to look at three-dimensional objects, we accept what we are seeing without to the point that we see identical shapes as being different from each other.
Other optical illusions that fool your brain include a black and white spiral which makes a Van Gogh painting move and a puzzling picture which has people baffled about the colour of the dresses.
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Now we can see that the table tops are in fact the same shape and sizeCredit: Reddit
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education