Why Your Brain Flips Over Visual Illusions

[KJS]

It took me a minute to get the full picture. What is interesting is that I was focusing on details, trying to pattern-match anything, with very different ideas about what this could be, yet in the end it was totally unexpected.

Reminds me of remote viewing. Last night I was doing a session and saw a hole or a very deep lake with a bright outline, but I couldn't get what it was, as the descriptors didn't make sense (hard, slippery, being, etc.). It turned out that it was a guy playing the acoustic guitar and I was located near the soundhole

 

[Jones]

I wondered if at first the image is being viewed from the perception of left hemisphere and then perception swapped to right hemisphere to reveal what it actually was.

 

[Z...]

I wondered if at first the image is being viewed from the perception of left hemisphere and then perception swapped to right hemisphere to reveal what it actually was.

There are people who could not see it at all. Then next next day they could still not see it, but as soon as I told them what they are looking at they instantly saw it.

It took me a while to see it, but then next day I could not see what I was originally seeing anymore.

 

[brandon]

I don't know if I can see it or not... can only see it as one thing... looked for a while but can't see anything else.. (I mean, I can flip negative and positive to see it with opposite depth but it only really looks like something one way round.).. It seems so obvious that I assume I'm seeing the wrong thing... go on, give us a clue :)

 

[Jones]

When I first looked at it I was paying attention to the pink shapes and couldn't make anything out of it. Then almost in a blink and as far as I know without making a conscious decision to, attention shifted to the silver shapes et voila!

 

[Echo Blue]

OMG.....I just saw it!!! I could not figure it out at first, (and I won't tell how I was able to see it, but Wow!!!

 

[Z...]

I don't know if I can see it or not... can only see it as one thing... looked for a while but can't see anything else.. (I mean, I can flip negative and positive to see it with opposite depth but it only really looks like something one way round.).. It seems so obvious that I assume I'm seeing the wrong thing... go on, give us a clue :)

Spoiler: open only if you give up

It is a set of 4 forks laid out on a purple kitchen towel

 

[Seppo Ilmarinen]

I wondered if at first the image is being viewed from the perception of left hemisphere and then perception swapped to right hemisphere to reveal what it actually was.

Makes sense. I noticed how the picture started to "change" once I kind of expanded my visual view and tried to look the "bigger picture". Instantly the two main objects "shifted" so that what was first in the background "moved/raised" forward, and vice versa. I.e my brain "reshaped" the picture in real time, like a puzzle. Actually quite neat experience and good analogy for seeing the man behind the curtain, I think. Now I can't go back to the Matrix anymore!

 

[brandon]

Spoiler: open only if you give up

It is a set of 4 forks laid out on a purple kitchen towel

Hah, ok ta :) (Yep, that's all I can see it as.. what do people see who don't see that!?)

Spoiler

Maybe I'm just attuned to the forks. I was massively overthinking it like, "is there a random dot stereogram hidden in the purple towel? is it actually a picture of a stoat?" lol..

 

[Evan]

@brandon All I see is the “spoiler” answer, too. Am I missing something obvious?

 

[Tuatha de Danaan]

Wow, that was great fun and without the prompt I still would not see. The amazing thing is the way I cannot see the original picture now. Thank you.

 

[Ben]

@brandon All I see is the “spoiler” answer, too. Am I missing something obvious?

Same. I spent while until I gave up, only to be told what I had already been seeing. What else could it be?

 

[Evan]

Same. I spent while until I gave up, only to be told what I had already been seeing. What else could it be?

I can’t imagine. I’ve spent entirely too much time staring at what looks like a reflection of a horizon with some kind of droplets in the lower part. It looks like a Photoshop chrome filter:

 

[Z...]

I can’t imagine. I’ve spent entirely too much time staring at what looks like a reflection of a horizon with some kind of droplets in the lower part. It looks like a Photoshop chrome filter:
View attachment 110710

so yes this is what you see originally or something similar, and then after few seconds you realize what you are looking at, or a lot people never do.
I run this test on my facebook page and the amount of people who cannot see the proper image without being told what it is - is incredible.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

When I first looked at it I was paying attention to the pink shapes and couldn't make anything out of it. Then almost in a blink and as far as I know without making a conscious decision to, attention shifted to the silver shapes et voila!

Me too! It was the pink that threw me off at first.