In my Introduction to Political Methodology class we talk about optical illusions. When we use the scientific method we rely on empirical observation and replicability, so with optical illusions as a jumping off point, we talk about what it means to observe something, the importance of replicating methods, and how our biases and brains can sometimes get in the way of what it is we think we know. After many semesters of looking at optical illusions I have gotten very good at seeing the illusions. However, I ran across this one today and it is just puzzling the shit out of me. I can't make my brain see it at all. Can you? I'm losing sleep over this.
I copied and pasted the image into paint, and then erased everything but the two squares. They are indeed the exact same color. But even knowing that, I still can't see them as the same color when I look at the original image.
ReplyDeleteClearly it has something to do with the shadow effects, such that the squares around A are really light (making A look darker by comparision), and vice-versa for B.