Optical illusions are illusions of the mind in its visual field of perception.
What mind perceives there to be, is not there.
Or otherwise, what mind perceives not to be there, is very much there.
Why does mind perceive the opposite?
Or is it the eye that does so?
What is the line separating the eye from the mind or, to be exact - say, the brain?
A part of the eyeball, called the retina, is said to be an extension of the brain into the eye.
Retina is as much a part of the eye as it is of the brain, connected to it through the optic nerve that takes the signals of all the image sensations falling on it to the brain, which later decodes them back into the visual perceptions.
Does the eye get fooled or does the brain get fooled by what the optical illusions look to be like?
Cafe Wall illusion
Basic pattern The gray line appears to tilt down to the left, though it is horizontal.
What is the difference between the brain and the mind?
Cafe Wall illusion
The gray line is horizontal but appears to tilt clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise from the top to the bottom. When the line is black, the illusions is called the Münsterberg illusion.
The mind forces the brain to perceive the visual field in a certain way.
Cafe Wall illusion
The limiting case Kitaoka, A., Pinna, B., and Brelstaff, G. (2004) Contrast polarities determine the direction of Cafe Wall tilts.
The brain loses its agility and exactness, i.e., to the point approach.
Fraser illusion
When slightly tilted line segments are aligned horizontally like the figure, the whole array appears to tilt toward the tilt of the line elements. This is a reversal of the Zollner illusion or acute-angle contraction.
Yes, it loses its to the point approach and falls prey to the designs that optical illusions are!
Popple illusion
The phase-shift illusion. When Gabor patches are aligned vertically and the phase of carriers is adequately shifted, the row of the envelope windows appear to tilt toward the shift.
The optic nerve along with retina is the interface between the eye and the brain.
Both need working to the point in order to sense what exactly is there in front of the eyes in their visual field.
Poggendorff illusion
The two oblique line segments are aligned on a straight line but the upper one appears to shift upward.
The eyes are able to do so only when they are looking to the point, i.e., focused at a single point forming its image at the fovea in the center of the macula.
Very few, if any, optical illusions can fool them then.
Ponzo illusion
The two lines are the same in length but the upper one appears to be longer than the lower one.
The rest of the visual field should look blurred as compared to the point in question, the point in question being the clearest possible as much as it, technically, can be.
Jastrow illusion
The two figures are the same in size but the inner one appears to be larger than the outer one. Actually, this illusion was first presented by Wundt.
This is what is called the central fixation of the eye which is nothing else but the western name given to the third eye opening of the east.
This should also be called the central fixation of the brain - with the brain working vividly to the point, especially when the crown chakra also gets opened along with the third eye chakra.
Oppel-Kundt illusion
The physical center is the second one from the right, which appears to shift rightward.
When the mind interferes in between, the central fixation of both - the eyes and the brain - is lost.
It is then replaced with the economic fixation of the mind.
Helmholtz square
The vertical side of a square appears to be longer than the horizontal side when the square is filled with a horizontal grating, and vice versa.
The third eye chakra gets closed.
Optical illusions hold their sway.
Fick illusion
The vertical line and the horizontal line are the same in length but the former appears to be longer that the latter.
The eyes and the brain go subservient to the mind.
The mind always goes with the past habits, trying to fit the reality into the way it wants to perceive it.
Bourdon illusion
The upper side of the left-lower triangle is actually aligned with the upper side of the right-upper triangle, the former appears to tilt counterclockwise while the latter clockwise.
The mind wants to see everything in the visual field equally good in one single moment, the way it has been trained by the culture of the world - the human culture!
Hence the point of central fixation is lost, losing its vividness along; and everything in the entire visual field looks to be equally good or, in other words, the mind compromises to see everything equally blurred.
Optical illusions work when eyes are seeing the entire visual field equally blurred.
Giovanelli illusion
Each dot surrounded by a larger circle appears to shift in position away from the center of the circle.
But where does the mind physically stay in the body, from where it is able to force eyes to compromise seeing with economic fixation?
Fraser's spiral illusion
Concentric circles appear to be spirals.
The answer is, it sits in the acquired muscular tendencies of the body musculature.
The mind means the map of the muscular tendencies acquired by the body musculature that affects its (the body's) posture the very first.
Ehrenstein's figure
Ehrenstein, 1941 The illusory circles appear to be brighter than the background though they are of the same luminance.
As the posture changes from the natural to the acquired, the first victim to fall is the central fixation, making us fall prey to the way optical illusions want us to!
The torso drops itself down, and then squeezes itself in, in order to defend (!) us from the imaginary (not real - real one never drops it down!) onslaught of future adversity - whether emotional, physical or moral.
Hermann grid illusion
There appear to be dark dots on the crosses of white streets.
As the torso drops itself and then squeezes in to imprison us inside our own petty cage of our petty self, the hips get permanently pushed forward, the back gets permanently slouched, the skull gets continuously and permanently pulled down as well as in or forward - displacing the alignment of the two jaws in between themselves (whose jaws on earth are aligned properly - check your own!), by the drooping (as in academics) or the stiff (as in the army) shoulders affecting the most delicate organ or system of the body the very first, namely the eyes or the visual system - by spoiling the vision permanently - making it overt in one case, i.e., nearsightedness; and covert in the other, i.e., farsightedness (making itself apparent as the so-called old-age sight only after the age of 40 when near-reading parts company with the eye saying bye to it for the rest of the life!).
Scintillating grid illusion
Schrauf, Ringelbach and Wist, 1997 Black flashes appear to scintillate in white circles.
Our eyes fall prey to optical illusions - blurredness of vision, in itself, is the biggest of all the optical illusions!
Rather, the mother of all the optical illusions!
Bergen illusion
Black flashes appear to scintillate in white crosses.
The less delicate organs or systems fall the next.
Digestion including acidity and constipation; breathing turning shallow affecting lung efficiency; blood supply including a weaker heart and the blocked arteries; hormone secretion getting disturbed resulting in diabetes and thyroid; liver, spleen and kidney spoiling their functions - all this is only the beginning of the list of the organs and the systems that go falling down one by one, and further...
Chevreul illusion
When a dark image and a light image are connected to each other, the border of the former appears to be darker while that of the latter appears to be lighter. This illusion is frequently called the "Mach band", which is wrong, however.
None is to be spared.
Hayeesha, huyeesha, all fall down!
What spoils health is that only, more than anything else on earth!
Neon color spreading
When crossing points of a black grating in front of a white background are replaced with color crosses, the color appears to go out into the background.
Is there any way out?
Out of the trap of our unhealthy ways as well as the optical illusions?
Munker illusion
Munker, 1970 The orange and purple-red shown in the upper row are the same red, and the yellowish-green and bluish green displayed in the lower row are the same green. The Munker illusion is the chromatic White effect.
Luckily, there always is; unless the dysfunction has already ruined the structure in itself for good - that happens very late in life, but it does happen - later if not sooner.
Optical illusions can fool only the economic fixation and not the central one.
Watercolor effect
Pinna, Brelstaff and Spillmann, 2001;2003 The outer part of the larger square appears to be tinted orange though it is white.
I will now try to show the point to you in a practical way as far as perceiving a few of the optical illusions is concerned.
I have also taken quite a few optical illusions from his catalogue page.
Although these images of the basic optical illusions on his catalogue page are free of copyright, I do feel indebted to him for them also!
I have used his text, introducing each of these basic optical illusions, as such only, on my page, in red.
Below, in blue, are my comments, if any, which I have given, right now, only to the optical illusions of anomalous motion and the optical illusions of central fixation - these being the most important ones in my opinion.
The rest of the copy on the page, in black, is my general treatment that should be given to perceiving any kind of optical illusions anywhere, anytime.
Hence, I take this opportunity here to disillusion these illusions with the help of seeing through central fixation and not the economic one.
Rotating snakes
Optical Illusions of Anomalous Motion
Circular snakes appear to rotate 'spontaneously'.
It's very easy to stop their rotation. You just need looking at them with your third eye open. Since yours is not permanently so (if!), you can do a temporary maneuver. Look at the snakes from a distance of one foot. Then slowly and gradually start moving your eyes nearer the screen, making it a point to keep things in focus as you move nearer. Your face, your lips, your eyes and your jaws will have to readjust their positions, shapes, and alignments if you don't let the picture get unfocused. You will discover that you are able to focus only at one single point in the whole picture at one given moment of time, and need scanning in order to get the feel of the whole picture. The size of the point in focus will go on reducing with the reducing distance between your eyes and the screen. The clarity of the focus will go on increasing on the contrary. And the snakes will have stopped rotating by now!
Why should we be looking at the world around with economic fixation?
Our eyes have been designed to look at one single point of space, at one single moment of time.
Then, they are supposed to look at the second adjacent point of space at the second (that's always adjacent!) moment of time.
Further next, they are supposed to look at the third adjacent point of space at the third (yes - adjacent!) moment of time.
And so on and so forth!
Rollers
Optical Illusions of Anomalous Motion
Rollers appear to rotate without effort. On the other hand, they appear to rotate in the opposite direction when observers see this image keeping blinking.
Like snakes, it's very easy to stop the rotation of the rollers too. The procedure is exactly the same. You just need looking at them with your third eye open. Since yours is not permanently so (if!), you can do a temporary maneuver. Look at the rollers from a distance of one foot. Then slowly and gradually start moving your eyes nearer the screen, making it a point to keep things in focus as you move nearer. Your face, your lips, your eyes and your jaws will have to readjust their positions, shapes, and alignments if you don't let the picture get unfocused. You will discover that you are able to focus only at one single point in the whole picture at one given moment of time, and need scanning in order to get the feel of the whole picture. The size of the point in focus will go on reducing with the reducing distance between your eyes and the screen. The clarity of the focus will go on increasing on the contrary. And the rollers will have stopped rotating by now!
That is how the eyes are supposed to scan the visual field space-wise as well as time-wise (the two getting fused as the space-time of the relativity theory of Einstein and Minkowski!) in order to get the perception of a whole visual field in an extended time gap.
It happens (if and when it does - completely!) so fast that it doesn't appear to disturb our sense of it whole being in front of us now and here as one single unit; only that everything starts looking so vividly crystal-clear!
Hence the peripheral vision is not at stake too, that is needed - as, when driving.
Vanishing illusion
Optical Illusions of Central Fixation
When observers approach the image keeping their eyes on the center of the image, fireflies of blue light appear to escape. Then, some or all of them appear to extinguish (Troxler effect).
The procedure is exactly the same here also, but with a difference! This optical illusion, when perceived successfully, is indicative of your capability of adopting the healthy way of looking at one single point in space, at a given single moment of time; and then freezing the point at the center of your visual field, and keeping it there through the advancing moments of time simply by stopping scanning the entire visual field through stopping the movements of the eyeballs, thus trying to freeze time where it is, i.e., at one single moment. It's like investigating into a sample slice of time while looking at a thing with total central fixation, and discovering that everything away (blue dots in this case) from the point of fixation is much less clear than the point in question (yellow dot in this case) even as much as to the point of vanishing altogether, in case the quality of central fixation is an excellent one! A very helpful illusion! Much more helpful than all the other optical illusions around in order to taste the totality of the central fixation! In those other optical illusions I had suggested you to stop the illusion, but in this one I suggest you to further strengthen it in order to discover the right way to see.
In fact, it is not an illusion in the sense the other optical illusions are. Rather, only this one of all the optical illusions is the actual reality of the right visual perception at one single moment in time - of course, this one single moment getting frozen and then, dragged into the passage of time! Time that never stops!
Whereas in the two optical illusions of anomalous motion, you needed focusing at a point, and then you were free to scan different points all through the picture or not to, as per your preference, in order to stop the rotation; you will need to avoid scanning in this optical illusion of central fixation in order to vanish the periphery of blue dots from the awareness of your perception. Just fixate and don't scan, as you go very near the screen, keeping the yellow dot in vivid focus; and the blue dots will vanish in the thin air, as you count the resolution dots on the computer screen inside the yellow dot from that close a distance!
Scanning the space with central fixation extended in time through all the points in space is the only right way to see, whether the world around or the optical illusions in front of the eyes.
It's not that the economically fixated eye doesn't scan at all, but it does so very economically in a very frugal way and not totally and fully - without scanning every single point totally with full attention on it, that only comes from the full interest in it!
It's in a hurry rather, to complete the scan as fast as possible without doing a proper justice to the process of scanning at all!
Ouchi illusion
Ouchi, 1977; Spillmann et al 1986 The inset appears to move.
Hurry turns us greedy.
We want to gulp the whole cake down our stomach in one single bite!
We are the victims to the most widespread disease on earth called the mental hurry.
We want to see the total visual field in one single go, in one single moment of time.
We want to be rich overnight!
That's how our culture has trained us since early childhood.
The human culture!
Optimized Fraser-Wilcox illusion
Kitaoka and Ashida, 2003 Stationary objects appear to move "spontaneously". The direction of motion is black » dark-gray » white » light-gray » black.
So, we fixate economically as we look at the world around us; or, for that matter, the optical illusions in front of us, and hence, they trap us in their clever designs to make us perceive what is not there (or, not perceive what is there!).
Zöllner illusion
The horizontal lines appear to tilt to the right and the left alternately. This illusion is characterized by acute-angle expansion.
It's economic fixation only that inflicts us not only with myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, and astigmatism; but also with amblyopia and strabismus.
Müller-Lyer illusion
The two horizontal bars are the same in length but the lower one appears to be much longer than the upper one.
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