THIS optical illusion will have you scratching your head.
Although one pear appears darker than the other below the black and white lines, they are actually the same color.
2
These two pears are actually the same color Credit: Lenstore
This mechanism is an example of the luminance illusion.
Similar visual puzzles have been around for over 100 years and follow a familiar pattern.
Usually, two identical objects are placed on a striped or gradient background.
Objects look very different depending on where they are placed against the background.
In June 2020, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology investigated the mechanism behind the illusions.
They showed that the phenomenon is based on fantasy in the way our brains process what we see.
When we look at an image, we estimate the brightness of the object before the visual information reaches the visual cortex of the brain.
This means that objects of the same color may appear lighter or darker than they are depending on the background they are displayed against.
“All our experiments point to the conclusion that this is a low-level phenomenon,” MIT professor Pawan Sinha said at the time.
“The results help answer the question of what is the mechanism behind this fundamental process of luminance estimation, which is an integral part of many other types of visual analysis.”
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.
Dr Gustav Kuhn, a psychologist and expert in human perception at Goldsmiths University in London, told The Sun earlier this month that illusions are important to our understanding of the brain.
“We tend to take perception for granted and rarely think about the hard work that underpins everyday tasks, like seeing a cup of coffee in front of us,” he said.
“Visual illusions highlight misperceptions and provide important information about the hidden neural processes that allow us to see the world around us.”
It follows the release of a spooky illusion earlier this month that made the viewer feel like they were falling into a black hole.
2
Here is the pear without the bottom.
We pay for your stories! Have a story for The Sun Online science and technology team? Email us at [email protected]
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education