The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Truer Than Truth
Trompe l'oeil illusions challenge your perception
Stories by Susana Martinez-Conde
Susana Martinez-Conde is a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, N.Y. She is author of the Prisma Prize–winning Sleights of Mind, along with Stephen Macknik and Sandra Blakeslee, and of Champions of Illusion, along with Stephen Macknik.
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Afraid of Shadows
Spooky illusions trick and treat your brain
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
All Deceptions Great and Small
Does size matter? To your brain, it doesn't
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Colors Out of Space
Colors can change with their surroundings and spread beyond the lines
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
What's In a Face?
The human brain is good at identifying faces, but illusions can fool our “face sense”
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Your Twisted Little Mind
Illusions that distort your perception
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
A Perspective on 3-D Visual Illusions
What the leaning tower and related illusions reveal about how your brain constructs 3-D images
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
A Faithful Resemblance
When seeing is believing
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Vanished without a Trace
Fading illusions play hide-and-seek with your perception
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Art as Visual Research: Kinetic Illusions in OP Art
Art and neuroscience combine to create fascinating examples of illusory motion
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Food for Thought: Visual Illusions Good Enough to Eat
Face or food? The brain recognizes edible artwork on multiple levels
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Sculpting the Impossible: Solid Renditions of Visual Illusions
Artists find mind-bending ways to bring impossible figures into three-dimensional reality
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Perfectly Timed Advertising
Marketing illusions that make time fly
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
The Eyes Have It
Eye gaze is critically important to social primates such as humans. Maybe that is why illusions involving eyes are so compelling
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
The Illusions of Love
How do we fool thee?
Let us count the ways that illusions play with our hearts and minds
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
No Brain, No Pain
Pain is an emotion
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
The Neuroscience of Illusion
How tricking the eye reveals the inner workings of the brain
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Urban Illusions
Street artists use the city as their canvas
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
Yorick's Ghost and Other Afterimages
Staring at images can temporarily reset retinal cells and cause ghostly visions
The SciencesSeptember 12, 2013
What It Means to Be You
You are more than a robot searching for food and mates
September 11, 2013
Illusion of the week: Satan in the Smoke
Twelve years ago today, Photojournalist Mark D. Phillips captured the World Trade Center, engulfed in smoke and flames, seconds after the second plane attack.
September 1, 2013
Is Pain a Construct of the Mind?
Pain is an emotion
August 29, 2013
Illusion of the Week: Black Art in Dance
Check out this Black Art dance video by Fighting Gravity, from their America’s Got Talent!
August 27, 2013
The Anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s Death: An Illusion Tribute
Two hours before the historic lunar landing, Neil Armstrong mentally composed the first words to be said on the Moon: “It’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”.