The first (documented) version of the famous ‘Duck-Rabbit’ illusion is an unattributed drawing from the 23 October 1892 issue of the German Humour Magazine Fliegende Blätter, Since 1892, many thousands of people have struggled to decide whether the image is a duck or a rabbit. Results are about 50/50, with viewers seeing either a duck […]
Tag: illusion
Holes around holes of little or no benefit in golf putting [new study]
The Ebbinghaus illusion (a.k.a. Titchener circles) is a robust optical illusion discovered more than 100 years ago. Two identically-sized* circles are presented, one is surrounded by large circles, the other by small circles. The one surrounded by small circles looks bigger. In 2012, a research group from Purdue University, the Max Planck Institute and the […]
A newly described illusion – the Pot/Lid Illusion
“The pot is on the stove. The lids are in the drawer. You open the drawer, seeing disordered lids of different sizes, many set nearly vertical to help with drying. You take the one that looks correct: too big! You try again with one that looks one size too small, and— surprise! —it matches the […]
The Butcher’s Tongue Illusion (update)
Could we inform those who wish to experiment in a hands-on practical way with the Butcher’s Tongue Illusion (which we highlighted [highlit?] back in Oct 2014, see: ‘The Butcher’s Tongue Illusion (from the chip-crunch manipulator’), that the paper provides a link to DiscountMagic where fake tongues (like the one used in the experiments) can be […]
Do cats see these optical illusions? Study and video say yes.
Further insight, in this study, on what cats have in sight: “Cats and Illusory Motion,” Rasmus Bååth [pictured here], Takeharu Seno, Akiyoshi Kitaoka, Psychology, vol. 5, 2014, pp. 1131-1134. The authors, at Lund University, Sweden, Kyushu University, Japan, and Ritsumeikan University, Japan, report: “Many cat owners have probably looked into their cat’s eyes and wondered how the […]
The Mirror Reversal Effect – a new angle
If you’re one of those people who looks into a mirror and wonders – ‘Why is left-right reversed, but not up-down?’ – then you’re not alone. “No agreed-upon account of mirror reversal is currently available although it has been discussed for more than two thousand years since Plato.” – explains mirror researcher Yohtaro Takanoa, Professor […]
Dr. Altschuler on … Whole Body Discrepancies
Complementing Improbable’s recent note about Dr. Altschuler’s writings on famous character’s ailments, we move now to his work with Whole Body Discrepancies. Eric Altschuler, M.D., Ph.D., who is currently Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, New Jersey Medical School and Associate Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, has devised (along […]