Champions of Illusion

Champions of Illusion Page 12

by Susana Martinez-Conde

  Here “Head Size Illusion,” used by permission of Kazunori Morikawa and Eri Ishii.

  Here Checkerboard pattern shape illusion, used by permission of Michael McCamy.

  Here “It’s a Circle, Honest!” used by permission of David Whitaker.

  Here “Coffer Illusion,” used by permission of Anthony Norcia, Stanford University.

  Here “The Healing Grid,” used by permission of Ryota Kanai.

  Here “Shepard’s Sarcophagai,” courtesy of Daniel Picon. Copyright © 2013, Daniel Picon.

  Here“Another Turn,” used by permission of Lydia M. Maniatis.

  Here “Stretching Out in the Tub,” used by permission of Lydia M. Maniatis.

  Here “The More-or-Less Morphing Face Illusion,” used by permission of Rob van Lier and Arno Koning.

  Here “Yang’s Iris Illusion,” courtesy of Jisien Yang and Adrian Schwaninger. Copyright © Dr. Jisien Yang and Prof. Dr. Adrian Schwaninger.

  Here “Illusory Pyramid,” courtesy Pietro Guardini and Luciano Gamberini.

  Here “Skyscrapers and Clouds,” used by permission of Sandro Bettella, Clara Casco, and Sergio Roncato

  Here “Cubistic Lands,” used by permission of Sandro Bettella, Gianluca Campana, Clara Casco, and Sergio Roncato

  Here “Mother, Father and Daughter: A Three-Aspect Ambiguous Figure,” copyright © by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press.

  Here“Mask of Love,” courtesy of Gianni Sarcone, Courtney Smith, and Marie-Jo Waeber. Copyright © Gianni A. Sarcone, giannisarcone.com. All rights reserved.

  Here “Ghostly Gaze,” used by permission of Rob Jenkins.

  Here “Ames Room,” courtesy of Jordi Nieva, copyright © Fundación “La Caixa.”

  Here “The Leaning Tower Illusion,” used by permission of Frederick Kingdom, Ali Yoonessi, and Elena Gheorghiu.

  Here Petronas Twin Towers, used by permission of Thomas Haltner.

  Here Checkered box, used by permission of Frederick A. A. Kingdom, Ali Yoonessi, and Elena Gheorgiu.

  Here Manga girls, used by permission of Akiyoshi Kitaoka.

  Here “A Turn in the Road,” used by permission of Kimberley Orsten and James Pomerantz.

  Here “Age Is All in Your Head,” used by permission of Victoria Skye.

  Here“Through the Eyes of Giants,” used by permission of Arash Afraz and Ken Nakayama.

  Here “Stereo Vision Produces New Illusory Contours!” used by permission of Davi Geiger and Hiroshi Ishikawa.

  Here “Hidden Strength of the Classical Simultaneous Contrast Illusion,” image provided by Martinez-Conde and Macknik Laboratories.

  Here “Nerve Impulse,” courtesy of José Ferreira W.

  Here “The Spinning Disks Illusion,” used by permission of Johannes Zanker.

  Here “The Enigma Illusion,” both images used by permission of Jorge Otero-Millan.

  Here “The Rotating-Tilted-Lines Illusion,” used by permission of Simone Gori and Kai Hamburger.

  Here “Pulsating Heart,” courtesy of Gianni Sarcone, Courtney Smith, and Marie-Jo Waeber. Copyright © Gianni A. Sarcone, giannisarcone.com. All rights reserved.

  Here “The Blurry Heart Illusion,” used by permission of Kohske Takahashi, Ryosuke Niimi, and Katsumi Watanabe.

  Here “The Rotating Snakes Illusion,” used by permission of Akiyoshi Kitaoka.

  Here “Snakes on a Brain,” used by permission of Jorge Otero-Millan.

  Here “Pinna Illusion,” used by permission of Baingio Pinna.

  Here “Floating Star,” used by permission of Joseph Hautman, aka Kaia Nao. Copyright © Kaia Nao.

  Here “Impossible Illusions,” image provided by Martinez-Conde and Macknik Laboratories.

  Here “Impossible Motion: Magnetic Slopes,” courtesy of Kokichi Sugihara. Copyright © 2009 by Kokichi Sugihara.

  Here “Elusive Arch,” used by permission of Dejan Todorovi´c.

  Here “Impossible Illusory Triangle,” used by permission of Christopher Tyler.

  Here Three Bar Cube, used by permission of Guido Moretti.

  Here “Twisted Hands,” used by permission of K. Brandon Barker and Claiborne Rice.

  Here “The Disappearing Hand Trick,” image provided by Robert Alexander.

  Here “The Knobby Sphere Illusion,” used by permission of Peter Tse.

  Here “Fishbone Illusion,” courtesy of Masashi Nakatani. Copyright © Masashi Nakatani.

  Here Mac King performing onstage, used by permission of Mac King.

  Here The Amaz!ng Randi and Dan Simons in a gorilla suit, used by permission of the estate of Alan Stubbs.

  Here “The Monkey Business Illusion,” figure provided by Daniel Simons, www.theinvisiblegorilla.com. From Simons, D. J., & Chabris, C. F. (1999). Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events. Perception, 28, 1059–1074.

  Here “Attention to Brightness,” used by permission of Peter Tse.

  Here “Attention to Color,” used by permission of Peter Tse.

  Here “Attention to Afterimages,” used by permission of Peter Tse.

  Here “Expanding Flowers,” used by permission of Akiyoshi Kitaoka.

  PRAISE FOR

  CHAMPIONS OF ILLUSION

  “In this beautiful book, Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik compile some of the most surprising, compelling, and elegant visual illusions of the new millennium and explain how and why they work. You’ll be amazed.”

  —Daniel Simons, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois and bestselling coauthor of The Invisible Gorilla

  “Visual illusions flummox us. They mystify, confuse, baffle, bewilder, perplex, stump, and confound. They do so because they contain in them our evolutionary tracks and the way we view our physical world today. This collection by Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik represents the best of a yearly competition to discover the most impressive visual illusions that the best minds among us can create. In giving us this compendium, Martinez-Conde and Macknik bring us face-to-face with our evolutionary history and our aspirations for who we might be. A feast for your eyes!”

  —Mahzarin R. Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University and coauthor of Blindspot

  “Illusions are a window into how the brain generates our perceptions. Nowhere is this better illustrated and explained than in Champions of Illusion. Highly recommended!”

  —Earl Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  “Visual illusions are perpetually entertaining, but they are not merely amusing curiosities; they have profound implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying normal human vision. Our perception of the world, despite its appearance of coherence, stability, and authenticity, is in fact evanescent and transitory, and Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik—two leaders in the field—use cleverly contrived illusions to make the point.”

  —V. S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, and bestselling author of Phantoms in the Brain and coauthor of The Tell-Tale Brain

  ALSO BY SUSANA MARTINEZ-CONDE AND STEPHEN MACKNIK

  Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions

  A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik are award-winning neuroscientists and professors at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. They are the authors of the international bestseller Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions and have written dozens of articles for publications such as Scientific American, The New York Times, The Sunday Times (London), and How It Works. Their Scientific American contributions include three special editions of Scientific American: Mind dedicated to their work. Their research has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, NPR, PBS’s NOVA, and more. They pro
duce the Best Illusion of the Year Contest. They live in Brooklyn. Visit their website at www.championsofillusionbook.com.

  You can sign up for Susana Martinez-Conde updates here

  You can sign up for Stephen Macknik updates here

  Thank you for buying this

  Farrar, Straus and Giroux ebook.

  To receive special offers, bonus content,

  and info on new releases and other great reads,

  sign up for our newsletters.

  Or visit us online at

  us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

  For email updates on Susana Martinez-Conde, click here.

  For email updates on Stephen Macknik, click here.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  INTRODUCTION

  1. BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST ILLUSIONS

  2. COLOR ILLUSIONS

  3. SIZE ILLUSIONS

  4. SHAPE ILLUSIONS

  5. AMBIGUOUS ILLUSIONS

  6. PERSPECTIVE AND DEPTH ILLUSIONS

  7. MOTION ILLUSIONS

  8. IMPOSSIBLE ILLUSIONS

  9. MULTISENSORY AND NONVISUAL ILLUSIONS

  10. ATTENTION ILLUSIONS

  Appendix: Dynamic Illusions

  Notes

  Contributor Biographies

  Acknowledgments

  Illustration Credits

  Praise for Champions of Illusion

  Also by Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik

  A Note About the Authors

  Copyright

  Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

  18 West 18th Street, New York 10011

  Copyright © 2017 by Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen L. Macknik

  All rights reserved

  First edition, 2017

  Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension. 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Martinez-Conde, S. (Susana) | Macknik, Stephen L.

  Title: Champions of illusion : the science behind mind-boggling images and mystifying brain puzzles / Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017002594 | eISBN 978-0-374-71839-8

  Subjects: LCSH: Optical illusions.

  Classification: LCC QP495 .M37 2017 | DDC 612.8/4—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017002594

  www.fsgbooks.com • books.scientificamerican.com

  www.twitter.com/fsgbooks • www.facebook.com/fsgbooks

  Scientific American is a registered trademark of Nature America, Inc.

  Some of the content in this book has appeared previously in Scientific American and Scientific American Mind, and on the authors’ Illusion Chasers blog.

  Frontispiece courtesy of Jorge Otero-Millan

 

 

 

‹ Prev Next ›