Geometric
Café Wall Illusion
First documented on the tiled wall of a Bristol café, staggered rows of black and white tiles separated by a neutral mortar line trick the visual system into seeing diagonal slopes.
Explore the Science of
Visual Perception
Interactive, programmatically rendered optical illusions. Manipulate mathematical parameters in real-time, reveal underlying visual truths, and uncover the neurological mechanisms behind human sight.
Geometric
Ebbinghaus / Titchener Circles
Surrounding a central circle with large outer circles makes it appear smaller, while surrounding an identical central circle with tiny outer circles makes it appear significantly larger.
Geometric
Ponzo Perspective Illusion
Demonstrated by Italian psychologist Mario Ponzo in 1911, two horizontal bars of identical length placed across converging lines appear unequal because the brain interprets the converging background as linear perspective depth.
Geometric
Hering Radial Distortion
Discovered by Ewald Hering in 1861, two straight parallel vertical lines appear to curve outward at the center when superimposed on a radial background of lines emanating from a central point.