Our brain works in mysterious ways, and when they are confronted with things they don’t understand, some truly bizarre things happen. In this article, we will show you how your brain sees colors that aren’t there and how it tricks you into giving an incorrect answer to a simple math question; get your pen and paper ready so you can keep track of how many times the illusions and mind tricks in this article fool you. Today, we are showing you 9 simple mind tricks that will blow your mind!
1) Which tower is leaning?
Look at these two pictures of the leaning tower of Pisa, Which one seems like it is leaning more than the other?
If you answered, “The right tower”, we are sorry to tell you, but you are wrong. Actually, both of the towers in these pictures are leaning the same amount because it is the exact same photo. When you see this picture next to itself, it tricks your mind into thinking that the picture on the right is leaning more than the one on the left this is because of the extra space on the left side of the photo. Since the towers are not parallel to one another, our brains think that one must be leaning more than the other.Take these two towers for example. Our brains process the 2D image as 3D, and we can see that these towers are in fact parallel. Now, let’s look at just the left tower with a picture of itself right next to it. Though we know the tower isn’t really leaning in real life, these photos are tricking our brains into thinking the tower on the right is leaning!. Now, if there are more than two pictures of these towers lined up next to each other, the illusion would disappear completely.
2) What part is the front?
You may already be familiar with this drawing of a cube. There is a good change that you have even drawn it while doodling on some paper. While you were doodling you probably didn’t realize you were actually drawing an age old illusion.
When looking at your drawing, did you ever have an idea of which side of the cube was actually in front? It may be hard to guess but it’s virtually impossible to know which side is the front just by looking at it. This is because this is the necker cube. The necker cube is the drawing of a cube that gives no clues about depth. It was discovered in 1832 when a Swiss scientist, Louis Necker, drew it on a piece of paper. The illusion tricks your brain, and you have no idea which way the cube is facing. If you concentrate, you can even switch the front with the back several times. This is a great way to start a debate with someone that will pretty much lead to nowhere. Now, if you highlighted or changed the shading on one portion of the drawings, the illusion would disappear. That is because the shading would give an indication of which way the cube is facing, erasing the illusion entirely.
3) Can you say the color?
Chances are you have seen this little mind trick before, but do you know how it works? Go ahead and give it a spin, and we will tell you why you probably struggled through the process. Look at this image of different colored words. Time yourself reading these words and completely ignoring the actual color of the font. Take a moment…
How did it go? It wasn’t too hard, right? Now, time yourself saying the name of the color of the words but ignoring what the words say… Did you struggle through the second test? Don’t worry; you aren’t alone. In most cases, it takes people a lot longer to get through the second portion. That’s because they have fallen victim of “The Stroop Effect”. This proves the brain can’t help but read the words and ignore the colors. Since we are reading words throughout the day, it conditions our brain to do so automatically. Trying to say just the colors of words actually takes more cognitive effort, which requires our brain to work harder and slowing us down in the process!
4) Which way is the chair facing?
Look at this image of a black chair, can you tell which way it’s facing?
Much like the necker cube, it’s hard to distinguish the back from the front because, one again, there are no depth clues. You can even switch which way you think it is facing in your brain. Now, let’s see which way the chair is actually facing. As this person sits down, we can finally see that the chair is facing the back the whole time.
What is even more shocking is the fact that the chair was specifically designed to trick your mind. This is what it really looks like if the chair was facing you! This bizarre piece of furniture is the brainchild of a french studio named Ibride. The studio designed three different illusion chairs, which all look completely different on what angle you are viewing them. These are the two other chairs and what they look like when you are supposed to sit on them. Now, this is what they look like when they are giving the illusion of pointing another way. Pretty trippy, right? Would you ever want a chair like this in your house? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
5) What is your calculation?
Next up, we have a math trick that we are going to try to pull over on you. So, get your brains ready, and don’t use a calculator or a pen and paper. All you need is your brain, and hopefully a good memory! Let’s see what you got. First, take 1000 and add 40. Now, add 1000 to that. Next add 30, and another 1000. To that, you will add 20, and another 1000. Finally, add another 10 to your final number. Now, scream out your answer!
Did you say 5,000? Well, sorry but you are wrong! The correct answer is actually 4,100! How many of you got it incorrect? Go ahead and grab your calculation if you don’t believe us. The trick here is that you are doing this all in your head. Your brain works in a way that makes it think you are continuously counting to a larger number. Since it seems like the answer would be a nice and even 5,000, your brain automatically jumps to that answer. That is, of course, unless you are a math whiz, and you got these simple calculations on the first try. If that is the case, Congratulations, You are way ahead of the curve on this one!
6) Which gender is which?
Have you ever wondered how your brain tells the difference between man and woman? There are the usual indicators like facial hair or sometimes more rugged features that let you know someone is a male. But,as society progresses and the difference between men and women are starting to blur, it’s becoming harder to harder to tell. That is why this next mind trick is so baffling. It starts by taking a look at these photos of two people. Which of these people do you perceive to be male, and which one do you think is a female? Write down your answer.
If you are like the majority of people, you probably thought the image on the left was a picture of a woman, and the picture on the right is a photo of a man. What would you say if we told you they are actually the same person? That’s right, this person has an androgynous face, which means they could pass for either male or female. Though this is the case, there is a slight difference in the pictures. The contrast of the photos has been edited, making it appear to be pictures of people who are two different sexes. Pretty crazy, wouldn’t you say?
7) What color are they?
Who remembers when the image of a black and blue dress broke the internet? The dress became the topic of international debate as people couldn’t agree on whether it was actually blue and black or if it was white and gold.
In the end, it turned out the dress was really blue and black, and half of the internet melted in astonishment.
Well, there is another mind bending illusion sweeping the internet, and this time it has everyone shook, Just see for yourself. This looks like an ordinary photo of a strawberry tart and has some sort of blue filter over it. When you look at this picture, do the berries appear to be red?
If you said yes, you aren’t alone, but you would be wrong. While these strawberries look like they are red with a blue tinted filter, they are actually a blue-green color. In fact, there isn’t even a red pixel in the entire image. The illusion was created by a Japanese professor of psychology who uploaded it to twitter. They even isolated the colors that appeared to be red and shared the proof on twitter as well. It proves that all these berries are the same color, that is absolutely not red.
This illusion is created by something called color consistency, which means your brain is automatically color correcting the image to make sense of it.
8) Which is green?
Look at this image, What colors do you see? Most people observe the colors orange, pink, green and blue. If you also see all these different colors, that means your mind is playing a trick on you.
Point to the green spiral on your computer screen. Now, point to the blue spiral. What if we told you the blue you see in this image actually isn’t there.
In fact, there is no blue in this picture at all. That’s right, even when you look at a similar photo like this one with green and blue hearts, you can easily tell which hearts are green, and which aren’t. Once again, it’s your mind getting the best of you.
Those hearts are actually all the same color. The reason you perceive them as different colors is because their neighboring colors make your brain see something else. When you place the green spiral next to orange, it makes it look more green. Now, if you put the same spiral next to the color pink, it makes the image appear to be blue. Here is a photo of the spirals with the pink and orange removed. When the neighboring colors are missing, you can finally see that the green and blue spirals are really the same color. Aren’t brains fun?
9) Which line is longer?
One of the oldest illusions in the book has to do with guessing which line is longer. There are several versions, But the original is the Ponzo illusion. Take a look. Which of these two lines seem longed to you?
Thanks to the nature of this illusion, Most people guess that the top line is longer, But that isn’t the case. These lines are exactly the same length. This image shows how our sense of perspective works. Since the lines used for reference appear like they are moving out in the distance, like train tracks, our brain gets stuck. Our brain is so used to depth perception that this image tricks it into thinking the top line is longer. Now, look at this next line illusion.
This image shows a right angle encased by a rhomboid. Now, which line is longer, AB or BC? Because of the slant and extra space on the right side of the rhomboid, Many people choose BC, but once again, the lines are the same size. Finally, look at these lines from an optical illusion created in the 1800s by Franz Carl Muller-Lyer. Which of these two vertical lines do you think is longer?
Though it depends on where you come from, if you are like most westerners, you probably chose B. Sadly, you’re wrong, because, surprise surprise the lines are the exact same length!
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