MANY optical illusions can illustrate how ‘reality’ is constructed by your brain.
Optical illusions often use shape, color, and motion to trick the human brain.
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And ‘visual optical illusions’, specifically, can trigger our visual system in a way that alters our perception of reality.
One example of this is the ‘flash-lag squares’ illusion, which was created by Stuart Anstis and Patrick Cavanagh,
In this illusion, two boxes appear to flash in red and blue.
Even though the boxes are the same size and positioned in the same place, the red box seems smaller.
However, it’s the motion of the white background that confuses the brain.
How does this work?
Illusions that utilize the flash-lag effect typically feature a non-moving object that is quickly flashed directly underneath a moving object.
This, in turn, leads our brains to perceive the non-moving object as “lagging” – even though the two objects are in the same horizontal position at the time of the flash.
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“The visual system assumes [the boxes] are moving too, and we get to see them where they would be if they had continued with the motion of the background,” neuroscientist Patrick Cavanagh, a research professor at Dartmouth College told Vox.
“It’s really important to understand we’re not seeing reality.”
“We’re seeing a story that’s being created for us.”
Another similar optical illusion includes Japanese psychologist and artist Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s ‘moving square’.
In this illusion, a square moves between a spectrum of two hues: orange and blue.
This illusion works by asking your brain to guess the color of the moving square.
“Keep in mind that the physical color of the square is not changing,” Brian Resnick explained for Vox.
“You might look at this illusion and feel like your brain is broken.”
“It is not. It just reveals that our perception of color isn’t absolute.”
