Optical Illusion

Submission 42,808

About

An Optical Illusion, also known as a montasir, refers to visually perceived images that appear different than they are in objective reality. Online, pictures and videos featuring optical illusions are often shared on a variety of platforms and web communities.

History

The cognitive processes hypothesis suggests that optical illusions are the result of evolved neural frameworks that create simplified models of visual data, which may result in the perception of an illusion under certain circumstances. Throughout history, artists have incorporated the use of optical illusions in their works, including M.C. Escher, Salvador Dali, Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Marcel Duchamp.

Online Presence

On YouTube

On June 1st, 2006, YouTuber questort uploaded a video titled "Natural Hallucinogen," featuring an animation that creates a warping optical illusion after being stared for a short amount of time (shown below, left). Over the next 10 years, the video received upwards of 16.2 million views and 17,300 comments. On March 15th, 2008, YouTuber Jigglemyshizzleuploaded a video featuring a misleading thumbnail picture of a floor lamp titled "Optical Illusion," which gained over 40 million views and 17,000 comments over the next eight years (shown below, right).

On August 24th, 2010, YouTuber Taste the Rainbow posted a montage of optical illusion images titled "The best optical illusions ever!".^[5] Within six years, the video received more than 21 million views and 17,500 comments. On January 14th, 2011, YouTuber brusspup uploaded footage of an optical illusion in which several balls appear to be balancing on an incline, accumulating upwards of 10 million views and 6,900 comments in six years (shown below, left). On July 22nd, 2013, the BuzzFeed Video YouTube channel uploaded a video featuring several spatial depth optical illusions (shown below, right). Over the next three years, the video gained over 10 million views and 12,900 comments.

On Reddit

On October 5th, 2009, the /r/opticalillusions^[1] subreddit was launched for submissions of various examples of optical illusions. Over the next several years, several related subreddit were launched, including /r/illusions,^[2] /r/OpticalIllusionGifs^[3] and /r/IllusionPorn.^[4]

Trompe-L’œil

Trompe-L’œil (“trick of the eye”) is an optical illusional technique employed across various disciplines of visual arts to make two-dimensional works appear to be three-dimensional from a specific vantage point by combining the stylistic elements of photorealism and forced perspective photography.

Forced Perspective

Forced Perspective is a photography technique in which an optical illusion is created by strategically placing a subject or object to appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is.

Misleading Thumbnails

Misleading Thumbnails are images that appear to resemble something else entirely after they have been reduced in size, creating a type of optical illusion.

#TheDress

#TheDress, also known as What Color Is This Dress?, refers to a Tumblr post in which viewers were asked to identify the color of a dress, which appeared to be either white and gold or black and blue. The question sparked an Internet-wide debate in late February 2015, launching the competing hashtags “#WhiteAndGold” and “#BlackAndBlue.”

Brick Wall Optical Illusion

Brick Wall Optical Illusion is a Facebook post which challenges its viewers to identify a visual oddity within a seemingly unexceptional photograph of a brick wall. Upon being uploaded to Facebook on May 16th, 2016, the photograph went viral due to its unexpectedly difficult and deceptive nature.