PsychWorld

In this short video, a paper diamond cutout is moved over a sheet of diamonds of seemingly different shades of gray but always ends up matching those diamonds in shade. Take a look:

This optical illusion, as you can see, is as much a magic trick as it is an illusion! How does it work?

In today’s day and time, the concept of ‘identity’ is rapidly fading. What is fading even more, is ‘individuality’. I say this as a teenage observer who basically spends more than 50% of her awake life mingled with teenagers supposedly all of different….everything. But, now I have been to a good few schools and in most, especially the last two, I have begun to notice a sort of fade in orginiality of personality.

This set of two images shows a man on the left who looks noticeably angry and a woman on the right who appears to be relatively calm. However, when you back yourself away from your computer screen (say, 8 feet or so), the two faces switch places, with Mr. Angry on the right this time and Mrs. Calm on the left!

This week’s illusion, named after Japanese discoverer Hajime Ōuchi, is a classic that is still not fully understood. Take a look at the central circular area of vertical black and white bars in relation to the surrounding area of horizontal bars. Do you notice any movement?

Last week, we showed you some “rotating” illusions created by Japanese psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka. This week, we have two additional illusions by Kitaoka, but they’re of an entirely different nature. And just in time for Valentine’s Day, they feature lots and lots of hearts.

“The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water,” describes the Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website.

If you read the above Tree Octopus description, would you believe it? According to new research described by LiveScience, most kids would.

Last October, we showed you the Rotating Snakes Illusion, which featured a grouping of spiraling circles that appeared to move with our eyes. It turns out that Akiyoshi Kitaoka, the Japanese psychologist who first came up with the Rotating Snakes, has made many variations of the “rotating” graphics over the last 9 years, some of which are just as neat as the original. This week, we’ve decided to show you a few of our favorites.

If this photo of a group of vacationers looks rather blue (in the literal sense…not figuratively, as they look to be pretty happy!), that’s because it’s been masked with a cyan (light blue) filter. Now take a look at the woman third from the right—the only person in the picture who doesn’t have her hands up in the air. What color would you say her top is?

Have you ever imed or called a co-worker to ask them a question even though they sit only two cubicles away from you? What about in college, have you ever decided not to take a specific class because it was all the way on the other side of campus?

These examples seem ridiculous, but even a short distance may seem far away once you know a place intimately enough according to some fascinating new research conducted at Northwestern University.

This week’s optical illusion is amazingly simple yet effective. Take a look at the graphic below and count how many colors you see.