Illusions for you

Am I Hanging? or just plain kissing?

Liisa Kaupmees submitted this simple and romantic optical illusion. All I can tell you, is that even if the sailor lifted his arms from his women of desire, she wouldn't fall. In fact, she probably wouldn't move an inch. Tell me, how can this be? Did you spot the illusion? It took me a minute to understand it. Hope you can beat me. This is Liisa's message: "Hello, Illusion of a couple is in the attachment, couldn't find original source.

Blind Spot and the "Filling-in" phenomenon.

Did you know that your eyes have blind spots (and not just at the back of your head)? Each of your eyes contains an area that has no photoreceptors because it is occupied by the optic nerve. You may not have noticed these areas because they are on opposite sides of your visual field. However, this exercise is designed to isolate your blind spot and you will be amazed at the results.
Instructions: Close your left eye and fixate your right eye on the cross in the first diagram. If your eye is about 12 inches (30 cm) away from the monitor, you should notice that the X disappears. This distance may vary according to the screen resolution you have set.

You may be surprised to see that the X is replaced, not by a black region, but rather blank white space. The brain simply "fills in" the most probable stimulus (in this case, a uniform white area) where there is none.

Twinkle, twinkle - The Blinking Effect

Challenge yourself to try and count the dots in the diagram below. Despite a static image, your eyes will make it dynamic attempting to "fill-in" the white circle intersections with the black of the background. Quite an amazing effect!
Instructions: Simply stare at the white circles and notice the intermittent blinking effect.

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Opponent After-images

The nature of our visual system allows us to sometimes see "after-images" which appear once the original stimuli are removed. In the following demonstration, you will see that the colors in after-images are usually the opposite (complementary) colors of the original.
Instructions: Stare at the black spot in the center of the four colored squares for about 30 seconds. Then scroll down and move your gaze to the black spot in the uniform white area. Note the colors of the afterimages relative to the colors of the original stimuli. Did they appear different?

So, my dear fellow bloggers how do you find my post? How about your eyes, Are they bleeding already? lol..........