” …the most amazing optical effect in the world… “

Well, I don’t know if it is the best but it certainly is fairly God damn awesome. Right, before I go one about it you better take a look so you know what I am referring too. Unfortunately I can’t reproduce the image here as it is Copyright of the creator. Obviously this is irritating, but I can understand the desire given the work that must have gone into it. Firstly go to the Colour Perception (note that this is a flash product, make necessary arrangements if you havent already got it) and click the button for the first illusion. Right now do as it says, and be amazed.

Two squares on a checkers style board that are exactly the same colour appear to be very different colours indeed. In fact so much so that I didn’t believe it. You can drag the “swatch” over to compare the shades and it would appear they are the same. But I wasn’t convinced. I thought that the bar could be changing colour. It is on a computer after all. Changing the bar’s colour would be a neat trick if it was done well. I wasn’t happy enough with the removing the mask button either. I though that both of the colours had slightly changed to become the same as each other.

However I thought I’d test it. To see if it is really true. So I took a screenshot, and opened it up in paint. I then choped off a sample of each colour that was relevant so one from A, one from B and one from the Swatch. I found that they were all the same colour. Infact they were all exactly the same. This time there could be no computer tricks, it was my mind being tricked.

There are numerous other and rather similar illusions that you can explore here and here, and you can see loads of other good but not great illusions on the same site.

Some of the illusions are the work of R. Beau Lotto who has their own site where you can see even more colour illusions as well as brightness and form ones too.

I have given up testing them. After my testing experience I’m so sure they’re right however wrong they look.