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‘Perspective’ refers to the way sensory information
is viewed, organized, interpreted and consciously experienced.

Learn About the Art & Science of Perspective

We hope you’ll marvel at these images, but we also hope that you’ll be curious enough to appreciate other examples from some of the great masters. We think they will help to inspire you!

Check out the source of the stunning image on our home page for a great introduction to visually surprising images that you may not have seen. Click on http://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/the-surreal-mind-bending-paintings-of-rob-gonsalves to go to ZME Science that showcases the works of Rob Gonsalves.

Visual Illusions and Brain Teasers

Cognitive Illusions

The way you look at an object can affect how you see it. Sometimes there are two images in the same picture, but you can only see one at a time so your brain chooses one (when it deals with too much information).

Version of the image first created by Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd. Cognitive “illusions” rely on stored knowledge about the world (depth, rabbits, women) and are also under some degree of conscious control (we can generally reverse the perception at will).

Instead of demonstrating a physiological base Cognitive illusions interact with different levels of perceptual processing, in-built assumptions or ‘knowledge’ are misdirected. Cognitive illusions are commonly divided into ambiguous illusions, distorting illusions, paradox illusions, or fiction illusions. They often exploit the predictive hypotheses of early visual processing. Stereograms are based on a cognitive visual illusion.

Ambiguous illusions are pictures or objects that offer significant changes in appearance. Perception will ‘switch’ between the alternates as they are considered in turn as available data does not confirm a single view. The Necker cube is a well known example, the motion parallax due to movement is being misinterpreted, even in the face of other sensory data. Another popular is the Rubin vase.

Paradox illusions offer objects that are paradoxical or impossible, such as the Penrose triangle or impossible staircases seen, for example, in the work of M. C. Escher (please check out http://www.mcescher.com!!!). The impossible triangle is an illusion dependent on a cognitive misunderstanding that adjacent edges must join. They occur as a byproduct of perceptual learning.

Distorting illusions are the most common, these illusions offer distortions of size, length, or curvature. They were simple to discover and are easily repeatable. Many are physiological illusions, such as the Café wall illusion which exploits the early visual system encoding for edges.

Other distortions, such as converging line illusions, are more difficult to place as physiological or cognitive as the depth-cue challenges they offer are not easily placed. All pictures that have perspective cues are in effect illusions. Visual judgments as to size are controlled by perspective or other depth-cues and can easily be wrongly set.

Fiction illusions are the perception of objects that are genuinely not there to all but a single observer, such as those induced by schizophrenia or hallucinogenic drugs.

Ambiguous Figures

Ambiguous figures demonstrates our ability to shift between figure and ground which provides the basis for the two interpretations of these figures. They exemplify the fact that sometimes the same perceptual input can lead to very different representations. The mind was actively involved in interpreting the input.

The Reversible Figures Look at the red dot. Is it located in the upper right front or the upper right rear? To help you see the different options, the front wall of the cube is colored gray.

This reversible figure is called the Schroeder Staircase Are you seeing the stairs from below or above?

Are you looking at this cylinder from left to right or right to left?

Tessellations

Tessellations in art can be mainly linked to M.C. Escher, a Dutch artist, born in 1898. After being a graphic artist, he traveled to Spain and did sketches of the art he saw at the Alhambra, a Morrish temple. He became interested in tilings and started to incorporate geometric designs into his art. Escher created hundreds, maybe thousands, of tessellating shapes in the forms of fish, dogs, crabs, and other beasts.

What Do You See?

Rabbit or a Duck?
A young lady or an old woman?
Octavio Ocampo Calvary
Octavio Ocampo Silver Threads
Octavio Ocampo Octavio Ocampo

There are 9 people in this last picture, which is a work by the Mexican artist Octavio Ocampo. For more, please visit Official Website of Octavio Ocampo.

And Then There's Video...

To start, there are an endless number of animated GIFs that can be used to alter one’s perspective and perception. These four examples convey the manipulation of objects shifting.

Find other examples at:
http://www.huffpostbrasil.com/2015/08/03/47-gifs-que-nao-vao-deixa_n_7927524.html

Using YouTube Cards to promote this related material can be a smart move. Check out this video from Asap SCIENCE that talks about the color psychology of the (in)famous ‘Dress’ that went viral. Not only is it a brilliant video that explains in plain terms exactly what we all want to know – just how on Earth do people see a black and blue dress when it’s clearly white and gold!?!? – but the creators make great use of a YouTube Card to promote their book, which promises to answer similar questions.

The circumstances of our lives may matter less than how we see them, says Rory Sutherland. At TEDx Athens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness.

Don't Forget Feature Films

Lots of films, especially Sci-Fi, use visual tricks to manipulate the viewer… showcasing impossible angles and objects.

Sometimes, perception is used to alter the very story itself. Here’s a good brief example from the 2002 classic ‘Mothman Prophecies’. (You may want to turn up the volume to hear it clearly).

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