Psychologists have long been interested in how people interpret ambiguous, bistable images, such as the examples below. Bistable images. Top left: faces or a vase. Top right: rabbit or duck. Bottom ...

Perception researchers have discovered many illusions where context affects perceived size and distance. A great example of this is the Ponzo illusion (reviewed in an earlier blog post). The Ponzo ...

The famous Ebbinghaus illusion, named for its discoverer, the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909). Despite appearances, the two orange circles are the same size. Have you ever looked at ...

Learn how money illusion affects financial perception by viewing wealth in nominal terms, with examples and history, ignoring real value adjustments like inflation.

Lightness perception, the visual system’s ability to maintain a stable representation of surface reflectance despite varying illumination, has long intrigued researchers. Central to this field is the ...

Have you ever looked at a picture and seen two completely different things? If yes, you've experienced an optical illusion—a visual puzzle where what you see isn't always what’s really there. One of ...

Optical illusions have gained a lot of popularity recently, as they get our brain to exercise, and can be the perfect test of ...

Research shows that a certain kind of visual illusion, neon color spreading, works on mice. The study is also the first to combine the use of two investigative techniques called electrophysiology and ...

Scarlett Howard receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Monash University, Australian Academy of Sciences, and the Hermon Slade Foundation. She is affiliated with Triple R. Adrian Dyer ...

"The Last Leaf" by O. Henry, published in 1907 in his collection The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories of the Four Million, follows the story of "Johnsy" (Joanna), a young, impoverished artist who is ...