The Illusion Only Some Can See
Ames window illusion illustrates how we don't directly perceive external reality. Special Holiday deal! Go to NordVPN.com/veritasium and use code VERITASIUM to get 68% off a 2 year plan plus 4 additional months free. It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!
Special thanks to:
Prof. Phil Kellman from UCLA Psychology kellmanlab.psych.ucla.edu
Museum of Illusions in Los Angeles for the use of their Ames Room laillusions.com
Curiosity Show - Video on Ames Illusion: plclip.info/show/dqGKsn2vdpm7h2E/wideo
References:
Ames, A., Jr. (1951). Visual perception and the rotating trapezoidal window. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 65(7), i-32. doi.org/10.1037/h0093600
Marcel de Heer & Thomas V. Papathomas (2017) The Ames Window Illusion and Its Variations
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794607.003.0014
Oross, Stephen, Francis, Ellie, Mauk, Deborah & Fox, Robert. (1987). The Ames Window Illusion: Perception of Illusory Motion by Human Infants. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 13(4), 609-613.
Behrens, R. (1987). The Life and Unusual Ideas of Adelbert Ames, Jr. Leonardo, 20(3), 273-279. doi:10.2307/1578173
Burnham, C., & Ono, H. (1969). Variables Altering Perception of the Rotating Trapezoidal Illusion. The American Journal of Psychology, 82(1), 86-95. doi:10.2307/1420609
Allport, G. W., & Pettigrew, T. F. (1957). Cultural influence on the perception of movement: The trapezoidal illusion among Zulus. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 55(1), 104-113. doi.org/10.1037/h0049372
Zenhausern R. Effect of Perspective on Two Trapezoid Illusions. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1969;28(3):1003-1009. doi:10.2466/pms.1969.28.3.1003
Gehringer, W. L., & Engel, E. (1986). Effect of ecological viewing conditions on the Ames' distorted room illusion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 12(2), 181-185. doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.12.2.181
Long, G.M., Toppino, T.C. Adaptation effects and reversible figures: A comment on Horlitz and O’Leary. Perception & Psychophysics 56, 605-610 (1994). doi.org/10.3758/BF03206956
Gregory RL. Looking through the Ames window. Perception. 2009;38(12):1739-40. doi: 10.1068/p3812ed. PMID: 20192124.
Jahoda, G. (1966). Geometric illusions and environment: A study in Ghana. British Journal of Psychology, 57(1-2), 193-199. doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1966.tb01019.x
V. Mary Stewart (1974) A Cross-Cultural Test of the “Carpentered World” Hypothesis Using The Ames Distorted Room Illusion, International Journal of Psychology, 9:2, 79-89, DOI: 10.1080/00207597408247094
Margaret Kathleen Cappone (1966) The Effect of Verbal Suggestion on the Reversal Rate of the Ames Trapezoid Illusion, The Journal of Psychology, 62:2, 211-219, DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1966.10543786
Researched and written by Petr Lebedev and Derek Muller
Filmed by Derek Muller and Raquel Nuno
Animations, VFX, and Music by Jonny Hyman
Ames Room VFX and additional Ames Window animation by Nicolas Pratt
Additional Music from epidemicsound.com "Life in Color" "Singularity"
Large Ames window construction by GW Construction
Video supplied by Getty Images
Komentarze
Nice Ironman shirt
I caught it once
bruh is litereally IMPOSSIBLE to NOT get TRICKED BRO
Damn we've been conditioned to fail
MY BRAIN ITS ABOUT TO EX-
The shape and lighting are not the only keys to the illusion. But it is also the isolation of the elements (nothing to provide the benchmark of perception). Also, it is a stylized shape devoid of all characteristics except 3 (shape and two colors. Nothing recognizable that requires 3 dimensions) Also, the perspective (straight on) provides only one angle (static perception without the help of triangulation which advances truth (which also happens to be the scriptural standard for condemning a man in a crime (upon 2-3 witnesses))). Also, the clip is short (not enough time to train the eye and see past the illusion). And finally, hyper focus on the object (further reducing overall visual cues that can be obtain through peripheral vision. I'd say I just cracked the code of programing and deprogramming of the masses. Though we should be careful of our certainties, we will in the end be accountable for what we believe. The shaddow and angle of the ruler do help. And although the paint is flat and not glossy, there are additional visual clues through light reflecting bright spots. If you can see through part of the illusion, you at least have got yourself a foothold. The time for lazy thinking is over. These concepts can easily be applied to to a divide and conquer agenda.
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The Cube kinda just broke it
It doesn't work for me
Am I the only one who sees it rotate naturally?
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bisecly our brain is stupid.
My eyes hurt
The camera has a lot to do with this
Focusing on the smaller side helps.
I could see the rotation near the end of the video. After I was exposed to it for a few minutes.
i can see it spinning the same direction. but i have to really focus hard lol, and can lose it in a split second if not keeping focus
i m not sure if it's weird but i was seeing the reality since the first time i sawt his illusion !! 🙄
The window also seems to be curved. Does anyone else see that?
science is so much fun
It’s too curved I can’t see the illusion
Where's that coffee table from? Awesome video, great history as well!
I found if you focus exclusively on one corner (top of shorter end), you'll see it as it is. The moment you let your gaze take in more of the piece, the illusion takes over.
I just see a spinning window lol
it flat unlike the earth
angles and stuff
11:39 if you start here and focus on his head as the window turns, out the corner of your eye, it will look like the window edge drops OUTSIDE of the yoututbe video frame.
Whoa this makes me think of planets and our solar system. Very interesting.
It's just like....REALITY. I'll try to give an example (sorry for my bad english in advance). Think about it, From a 4d "somewhat" point of view we could be entities, forced to perceive a "fake 4 minus 1 dimension world", purposely designed to be perceived as real (the fake "fake3D real 2D" spinning window, with the fake "real/3D" ruler). A world with 3 space dimension plus time (the perception of the movement of the reality itself, someway, if you see what i get there). The "+1" "dimension" of every NDimensional reality (just another one of my crazy thought about this). If a 3d observer, could be able, in some kind of way (here i really can't think how it could be possible and sorry for all this fuckin brackets but it's a difficult thought to process and express), to observe the simulation (which metaphorically would be the experiment you are doing), and if, like you, he were able to stop and restart our NDimension TIME, just to observe the behavior of a part of the "fake reality" in a given amount of time, in a given condition, could see us as moving entities, moving thru objects but, instead, we are simply a part of the fake "4-1D reality" itself in a given position, existing for some amount of time for some obscure and unreachable reason. So, damn...We could easily be a part of a simulation...
Mtt Lsa
Dzień temu
i've just realized (no pun intended) that i commented just a minute before the final part of the video... when you say almost the same...XD
Mtt Lsa
Dzień temu
Oh, and about the fact that the window is flat but it seems in 3d for a 3d observer, it might have something related to the fact that our reality, in reality, is just a "electro/material/visual illusion" (isn't it sounds like a videogame? A simulation?) created by a higher dimension that we, a part of this illusion, perceive it as real, precisely because we are designed and created for some reason, to perceive the illusion as "real" because we are part of the simulation itself ... But what is real? What is the "real reality"? Can a simulation be a true creation of a new "real reality? How many realities exist for each dimension if more dimensions exist? Ahhhhhhhh this video totally drive me crazy man XD..
the end bruh
Loved the Iron-e!
420
Nice Iron Man t-shirt... no one noticed xD
I can see though the illusion for a few sec
that level of genjutsu doesn't work on me
Idk if I am the only one here who can "change" if the illusion works or not. But when you put the ruler there, I could "change" it to where I saw the illusion, then I saw the way it really is whenever
great
In the well lit room I could see it rotating but not in the black background ,why is it this?
At first I can't different with big module
Stop hurting my brain
11:22 what did he say?
we can see the illusion! brains sure are wild
My head is hurting watching his videos
This broke my brain
So we see 2D and think 3D
This was a ton of fun to show to my physics class today! Thank you!
I managed to train myself to see the window rotate over the point where it appears to swing back. However, as soon as the window get's over 180° from the viewer now my brain just switches the front and the back of the window and rotates it the other way round. So in a sense i still see the window oscillating but not just from side to side but making one full turn, then turning around in an instant and making an other full turn... ^^
Fe: The IRONy hmmm.
Everything rectangular in my room now looks like its oscillating. i need to go lie down.
Well yeah, because blind people cant see
Try some human voice illusions: Have a "head in a box" look like it says one word while making the sound speaker actually say another word. A number of combinations give very odd results. In fact, in a video I saw years ago, the head's mouth looked like it said an entire nonsense phrase while another, totally different nonsense phrase came from the sound speakers. If you closed your eyes, the sound nonsense phrase was heard by you, but if you looked at the moving mouth of the head in the box, I distinctly heard, "Hello, how are you?" IN PERFECT ENGLISH!!! Somehow, the two nonsense phrases, one being mouthed and seen by your eyes and the other being heard by your ears at the same time, acted like the mixer tube in an old AM radio and out came the "IF" signal (changed to English) that was riding on the radio's "carrier wave". This would be the ULTIMATE stealth encrypted message system. Only a person looking at the correct talking head and listening to the message being sent in seemingly totally different words on a telephone or radio or video would hear the true message with no "secret decoder ring" needed at all! It also shows that our brains work in VERY, VERY STRANGE WAYS, far beyond just optical illusions...
Frick you illusions
“the math homework isn’t that confusing” the math homework:
Hence proved, We are in simulation
Awesome 😊
Damn it my brain hurts
your hands give it away. 11:30
wh.. what?
I could only tell it was spinning only when it had the ruler inside of it. Fascinating.
More these things i am watching , it appears to me to be rotating more than oscillating...interesting
roses are red violets are blue if this video is not confusing your crazy
Mind= Blown💯💣💣
I see it
Interesting 🧐... WELL DONE 👍 SIR! ...Hmmm 🤔... I learned that the the key 🔐 to reality is to switch the perception ... to change the core/inner idea 💡 of something into that of which you want to perceive... hmm 🤔 ... the old question 🙋♀️ begs to be be answered... is the GLASS 🥛🍷🥃 half full or half empty?
Yanny
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The shading does the work
Tracked*
Its track
Why did the window fool me but not the round one
Your wife must have the patience of a saint.
i already see the illusion from the illusion's start
why does this dude look sorta like Elon Musk?
I can make it go both ways
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This is my new favorite channel!
Ah! I don’t understand this but I think my fan Deep Look can help maybe, sorry I don’t understand this is very confuse me
Am I the only who can see trought the illusion? If you can also pls tell me cause I don't wanna be alone.
Am I the only who can see trought the illusion? If you can also pls tell me cause I don't wanna be alone.
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My mind knows what it’s looking at, but my eye says no. It’s breaking my head.
when you put the rubix cube in, it all started to make sense
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Fantastic experiment and analysis. Deeply appreciate the concluding remark. It's spot on.
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Close one eye.
Hi Derek, some reading recommendations: Ernst Gombrich, his approach to Art and Art History is all based on the problem of ambiguity you are dealing with in this video. The essay "meditations on a hobby horse" and his book "art and illusion" should really be reassessed
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i saw it rotate all the way around lol
The ruler helped me see what really happens. With rubic's cube I could focus and convince myself that it's rotating, but with the ruler I actually saw it rotating most of the time. The "circle" was definitely rotating, but I couldn't tell which way.
Artists are big braining this one tho
I concentrated on your feet, and wasn’t foxed. First time I’ve beaten it. I’m 70.
That is gorgeous! Thank you!
I can choose what I see unless it has an object on it
Im the opposite. I see it turning around.. i dont see any back & forth movements 🤷🏻♂️
My braincells
11:10 Cute dancing baby in the background alert! 😍
The illusion stoped working for me when he got in it
Just wickedly bizarre. You would think the receding and advancing edges would be noticeable. Even when starting to perceive the turning mentally the edges just.....aaaarghh. Great video, clever guy.
Wonderful content for both the open mind and open eyes. Excellent work for showing in schools. Both thought provoking and entertaining - oh the irony!