E-Paper
Optical illusion made with paper that shows ‘colour-changing’ square baffles people. Watch viral video
The viral video of an optical illusion made with paper showing a ‘colour-changing’ square was posted on Twitter.
Optical illusions are no doubt interesting. At the same time, they often leave people baffled. Just like this optical illusion that may leave you scratching your head. What is even more interesting is that the illusion is created using paper. It is about a square that appears to be changing its colour when moved from one part of a paper sheet to another.
Akiyoshi Kitaoka, psychology professor at Ritsumeikan University in Japan, created the illusion. He also posted a video showing the illusion on his personal Twitter handle a few years ago. The video has also been re-shared several times since being tweeted.
“A demo of lightness perception,” he wrote and posted the video. The clip opens to show someone moving a square across a piece of paper. However, as the square moves from one corner to the other it seems like its colour is changing.
The phenomenon that makes it look like the colour of the square is changing is called simultaneous contrast illusion, reports Insider. In reality, the square doesn’t change its colour but its luminosity appears different when seen against backgrounds of various hues. The brain registers the square as a lighter colour against a darker background and as a darker colour against a lighter hued backdrop.
Take a look at the video:
With over 1.3 million views, the video has accumulated various comments from people. “I'm like…what tablet is that? Then I realised it’s just paper,” wrote a Twitter user. “Ooow..... Wait what,” shared another. “That brained my damage,” joked another. “You broke it,” expressed a third. “I love and hate this so much,” posted a fourth.
