3
The Sex Illusion
The third place award went for the below pair of pictures below. One appears to be male and the second appears to be female. The truth is they are the same identical photo for one person but each one is digitally enhanced to create this incredible illusion. In the female picture, the dark parts are a little lighter and the light parts are a little darker. The subtle changes suggest that one way our brains may sort out sex is to notice how strong the contrast is between features. This illusion is created by Richard Russel of Harvard University.
2
The Colored Dove
In second place was an illusion of ghostly colors. Stare at a waterfall for a few minutes, look away, and the still world around you will appear to flow. The effect is called an "afterimage."
Scientists in Israel created a drawing of a sky with clouds that flashes red for a split second. A white dove flying across the sky seems to turn red seconds after the flash, showing that an afterimage color can linger in our vision and bleed into empty spaces.
1
Holy Curveballs
Look at the spinning ball directly. It seems to fly straight. But look at the blue dot and the ball's spin fools your brain into thinking that the ball is curving. A flying baseball passes from central to peripheral vision so it appears to jerk.
This year's winning illusion, created by Arthur Shapiro of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, may explain this phenomena. His animation shows a spinning ball that, when watched directly, moves in a straight line. When seen out of the corner of the eye, however, the spin of the ball fools the brain into thinking that the ball is curving.
