AN INCREDIBLE OPTICAL ILLUSION OF THE BRAIN makes a static image of a black hole look like it’s swallowing you whole, research has found.
Nine out of ten people who look at the misleading image report that the hole widens as if they are entering a dark tunnel.
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The optical illusion is driving internet users around the world crazy Credit: Getty
The illusion, which is new to science, was invented by Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a psychologist at Japan’s Ritsumeikan University.
Writing in an article this week, the researchers said it gives viewers “a growing sense of darkness, as if they are entering a space without light.”
They added that this was likely the result of our minds being tricked into thinking we were moving into a dark area.
As our brain loses vision, our pupils dilate, creating the sensation that we are either advancing or falling.
The illusion occurs regardless of the size of the image, and even if it is a different color, the researchers said.
The “expanding hole” is a highly dynamic illusion, said Professor Bruno Laeng, who led the experiments at the University of Oslo.
“The circular patch or gradient of the shadow of the central black hole gives a clear impression of optical flow, as if the observer were walking into a hole or tunnel.”
Professor Kitaoka is an expert in visual psychology and a well-known creator of optical illusions.
To test their latest invention, the researchers showed it to 50 sighted people between the ages of 18 and 41.
They were shown images of the “expanding hole” in various colors on the screen along with jumbled versions with no visible pattern.
The illusion of forward motion was strongest when the pattern was black, and only 86 percent of the participants could detect it.
That ratio dropped to 80 percent for painted and expanding holes.
The stronger the participants rated their perception of the illusion, the more their pupils dilated during the task.
This indicates a clear connection between illusion and pupil dilation.
Optical illusions are often just for fun, but they also have real value to scientists.
Brain puzzles help researchers shed light on the inner workings of the mind and how it reacts to the environment.
The black hole illusion, for example, suggests that the pupil can sometimes respond to the anticipation of light rather than to light entering the eye.
“Here we show, based on the new ‘expanding hole’ illusion, that the pupil responds to how we perceive light, even if that ‘light’ is imaginary as in the illusion, and not just to the amount of light energy that actually enters”. the eye,” he said. is Laeng.
“The illusion of a widening pinhole induces a corresponding dilation of the pupil, as would happen if the darkness actually increased.”
The research was published May 30 in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education