Bending Lines

The illusions I’m about to show you are great examples of how your mind interprets perspective. Your mind can easily tell which objects are father apart and closer by comparing relative sizes and looking at your surroundings. But what happens if you don’t know the size or location of the object? Our minds then make assumptions about objects that aren’t necessarily true. The illusions below illustrate my point.

Do the lines seem straight, or do they seem curved outward?

This illusion is based on the Hering illusion which was published in 1861. The lines in the illusion are actually straight and parallel across the entire background.

What do these lines look like? Do they look straight?

This type of illusion works because of the background pattern. This type of pattern (lines moving toward a vanishing point) reminds your mind of surfaces bending in 3D. After, your mind tries to make sense of the information and makes you believe that the lines are bending. In a sense, your mind is trying to make the pattern or depth seem logical by making you think that the lines are bending.

Another Illusion like this is shown below:

Does the square seem somewhat warped? The square is actually made up of perfectly straight lines.

This occurs because the slanted lines around the square make it seem that the top of the square is farther back than the bottom of the square. Since the bottom and top are the same size, but the top is “farther away”, the top of the square actually looks somewhat larger than the bottom.

Thats all for now,

Amanda