Friday, April 18, 2008
Spinning Wheel Illusion
Spinning Wheel?
Is the wheel above spinning? Which way is it spinning? Does it seem to change directions at will? If it does seem to spin; the movement is all in your head.
It is actually just two pictures of the same wheel flipping rapidly back and forth.
Any continuous movement in this spinning wheel is illusory. It is simply 2 different pictures of the same wheel flipping back and forth. The first picture shows the wheel at the start position. The second picture is the same wheel, but rotated 10 degrees. When we see the 2 pictures flipping back and forth we think the wheel is spinning!
You could say that the wheel rotates 10 degrees, then jumps back to 0, then rotates 10 degrees again...endlessly. Because the wheel looks like it is starting to rotate, and we "expect" the wheel to rotate, we tend to follow an illusory movement around the circle in 10 degree jumps. The wheel will "rotate" in either direction with a little concentration.
Labels: Art
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