MARISTELA P.

MENDOZA OPTICAL ILLUSIONS

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RAINBOW IN THE SKY OPTICAL ILLUSION

Optical illusions have always been an interest and a way of entertainment to most of us.
These illusions play with our brains and perceive us in so many ways. We often thought that we
are tricked by these images but in reality, it is our brain and our senses’ way of coping with
what they experience.

The Rainbow in the Sky illusion allows us to see a rainbow after staring at the dot for a
long period of time. This type of illusion is called as the Afterimage Illusion. It has two kinds of
afterimage effect: positive and negative. The positive afterimage is the type of illusion wherein
it retains the color of the photo you stared into when you looked at other directions. On the
other hand, negative afterimage (similar to this rainbow) inverts the colors.

Negative afterimage occurs when a person stares at bright images as it overtaxes the
visual system’s cell and becomes overstimulated thus, making it less sensitive. As a result, cells
for bright colors weaken while the opposite color signal strengthens.
MARISTELA P. MENDOZA OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
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DR. ANGRY AND MR. CALM

The optical illusion of Dr. Angry and Mr. Calm features two facial expressions of two
persons. The perception of an individual varies depending on his or her distance to the photo.
The face expressions swap from being angry to being calm or vice versa.

The type of illusion shown above is called a Hybrid Image. Hybrid images "adjust
interpretation as a function of viewing distance." In a study conducted by Aude Oliva and
Philippe Schyn from University of Glasgow, the Dr. Angry and Mr. Calm optical illusion
demonstrates the ability of the visual system to distinguish the information coming from
different spatial frequency channels.

Not only does this illustration entertain the viewers, it can also be used to compare with
the perception of other people. It is engaging to know that we have different visualization of an
image. It can be a source of learning more about one another and how illusions like this can be
both tricky and educational.