Embrace the Illusion!

[woyay]

you cannot reject mind body dualism when the structure of the mind determines your IQ level..

[CogitoErgoCogitoSum]

So explain why our brains invert the color? You went from inverted color to gray scale, and we saw full normal color. Why is that? Why didnt our brains recall the inverted color instead?

[CousinoMacul]

Your retina/brain doesn't see colors directly, but constructs them by comparing the relative signal strengths between the 3 cone types. When you stare at an image, the brain get "charged up" (sort of) to the colors it's seeing. When you look away or swap out the image, the cones that were getting the strongest signals will have the biggest drop in signaling so that when the brain does its cone comparison, it will interpret a big drop as a weak signal and a small drop as a strong signal.

[CogitoErgoCogitoSum]

That makes sense. I will allow your answer.

[CousinoMacul]

It's actually a bit more involved than that, but that's the general idea.

[gothatfunk]

what an awesome video!

[pocoapoco2]

I've come up with a good evolutionary explanation for your last "illusion". This build up over time of complimentary color information in a static image helps us to see details in a broader light level range by darkening brighter details. Or in other words we could see details in shadows in an otherwise bright environment by staring at it long enough.

[ozmoroid]

Excellent video! 5'd and fav'd

[Minty123mintz]

that was AWsome!!!! try vid in full screen with the bettle one... nice

[littlewing126]

I've embraced the illusion and it appears that Kevin Spacey is talking to me in your vid ;-)

Great stuff, thanks!

[Kaandorpius]

The last one was cool,..

I figured you were make me gonna look at the ceiling or some with that beetle, but it worked for a sec or so. Really cool.

[llamasausage]

you are some sort of sorceror

subbed

[zarkoff45]

I keep expecting you to offer me to choose between a red pill and a blue pill. What kind of illusion is that?

[AntiChristAntiFail]

you ever hear of a software program i want to claim was named Idose?

it claimed that playing certain sounds, that sound an awful lot like white noise, can make you feel high like the drug it's supposed to be for.

now, as someone whos done xtc, lsd, and marijuana, I tested this, and was disappointed, obviously, but, I'm also rather dense to exterior influence, and so, wonder what others thing. it can be gotten free via torrent, or googling its name to get the free trial, which contains a "dose"

[gwhoosh]

the beetle was cool, but I don't think it demonstrates what you were talking about. Isn't it negative afterimage or something?

Also I kept waiting for a twist at the end lol

[CousinoMacul]

If you listened carefully, I never claimed it demonstrated what I was talking about, only that it was related. ;-)

[deRoyLight]

My mind just blew up.

[Sinuev1]

I've seen the checkerboard illusion before, so I know how it works. However, when the connecting strip was applied - it looked as though the shade of "B" was shifted - like an editing job.

CousinoM suggests covering the image with your hand, but this was a bit unsatisfactory for me. I still saw the shift.

A better method, I found, was to use audio cues for when the connecting strip was added. Rewind to before it was applied, and cover the top of "B" and everything above. Then watch an listen

[Tialkannos]

the colorful beatle illusion is a example of negative afterimage

[TheAist]

Holy ****!!! That was incredible!!!

[2bsirius]

I just have to marvel at YouTube and it's view counter slights of hand...

This video has 83 five star ratings; it was favored 38 times and it has 52 comments, YET it only has 368 views????????

Come on YouTube...This is absurd!

Monopolies always pay games...

[brutus149]

365 views for me, it's apparently too hard to use similar counters and one only updates in batches, allegedly.

[2bsirius]

Could be...Since this video is saved to my favorites, I'll be able to check back from time to time to see how the count is progressing...

I hope I'm just paranoid, but CousinoMacul makes videos I usually find intriguing and I know lots of other people do to...SO I'm mystified about his view counts...

My counts aren't great either, but I'm not as creative as he is.

[CousinoMacul]

It's up to 398 for me and hasn't really moved out of the mid 300's since the day I first posted it. I don't know what's going on.

What's also strange is that I know of at least two people (pyrrho314 and ZOMGitsCriss) who are subscribed to me but I have to tell them when I have a new video because my videos don't show in their Subscriptions box. I wonder how many more views YouTube is screwing me out of this same way? :-(

[Cristofer7]

wow!

[Tialkannos]

and I think your explanation that peripheral vision has no color information is not correct, I generated a random color on the computer screen, while not watch, then used only the peripheral vision, the color information was already present

[Tialkannos]

i think you should talk about synesthesia

[Brianswers]

Interesting stuff! The beetle at the end only became colour for a second and thne back to grey for me. Don't know why

[RustyCyler]

very neat. thanks for the video.

[exacerbatedtaboo]

This shit is making my eyes hurt.

[plutodrvv]

"Future brain, you made me love you..."

[xy11xy]

This was soothing..

thanks.

[xy11xy]

Doesn't colour perception have to do with the presence of light and the wavelength of light the object is not absorbing?

[KingHeathen]

Megaly cool video!  I've seen the gray checkerboard illusion before, but it's still cool every time I see it. The spiral was awesome, until you put the black over the other color, they still looked like completely different colors. The beetle was only color for me for a split second...probably because my eyes have been a bit sensitive lately and I kept having to blink. Still, very cool.

[Barklord]

Very nice video.

[CousinoMacul]

:-)

[popebenadict16]

amazing.

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks.

[Orygyn]

Amazing stuff Javier.

[CousinoMacul]

Thank you!

[djosephallen]

Awesome...! Very Informative. I'll have to look into this a bit more....

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks.

[2bsirius]

This would make an awesome book!

[CousinoMacul]

Maybe someday.  :-)

[mtanti87]

in a sense, our eyes don't do much. without the illusionary power of the brain our eyes are useless. i wonder how it was easier for our brain to evolve than our eyes.

[CousinoMacul]

Many neurologists consider the eyes to be a part of the extended brain (retital cells are neurons).

[ballyboneman]

Excellent! That's the first time I've seen the beetle illusion; I'll have to show that one to the kids when I get home.

I wonder if other animals whose camera eyes evolved seperately (cephalopods for example) experience illusions the way we do?

Isn't it the case that when you stare for any length of time at a colour or particular set of colours you 'use up' the ability in the cones to see those colours and so your brain replaces them with others?

[CousinoMacul]

A. Other animals are susceptible to illusions, some of which are the same, and some different from what we see (depending on the architecture of their eyes and brains.

tinyurl[DOT]com/n6t6yx

B. I don't know.

[tomfrankly]

cousinomacul rules!

[CousinoMacul]

:-)

[Mozza314]

FUCKING BRILLIANT

Never seen the colour vs. black and white illusion before. Really very well done.

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks Mozza!

[windham666]

great!

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks.

[jogayot]

hug illusion to death!

[CousinoMacul]

The illusion will NEVER die! ;-)

[jogayot]

i hope, one hug at a time...

[thexjib]

very cool.

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks.

[DasAmericanAtheist]

I'm reading Dennett's "Conciousness Explained." This shit is so interesting.

[CousinoMacul]

I love learning how I perceive and feel the world around me.

[TheFallibleFiend]

I put on a science night at work once a year and include an illusions exhibit that uses the chess example and a few dozen others. The spiral is new to me. Love it!

[CousinoMacul]

I just discovered the spiral last week. It's awesome!

[Katalyzt]

Interesting... ★★★★★

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks.

[dakshinamurti]

This was one of the coolest videos I've seen thus far in 2009! wow!

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks.

[musicisthegateway]

I think Axl Rose said it best.. "Use Your Illusion"

FU Science.

[CousinoMacul]

FU Music!

[Censeo]

At dawn the world outside our lit homes becomes gray scale, yet since we know what color things have during the day, we don't really notice it consciously unless we are told so and start thinking about it.

[CousinoMacul]

I once wrote a post on my blog about how moonlight "steals the color" from things.

[JasperAvi]

I'm beginning to think maybe God is real... OH NOEZ

[mamdk]

Why is that bad? As long as you don't isolate your mind from thinking otherwise, then I actually think it's fairly wise to consider the possibility of a god.

Not that I think there is one or for that matter any other supernatural beings/things but it often shows it's wise to think "out of the box" to get a clear whole picture.

[CousinoMacul]

Wasn't it the devil who had perpetrated the great illusion of appearing not to exist? I can't exactly remember the quote.

[premed2]

I enjoyed this. You talk slow and clearly. You make me feel calm and safe. Thanks for making this, it was cool!

...especially the beetle part.

[CousinoMacul]

I still say "um" and "er" too much for my taste.

[premed2]

That's not so important. Who you are (obviously a vicious serial killer—no your humanity) comes through in a powerful way in your vids. Its er very um becoming!

[Ender1zero1]

I'm red green colorblind but for some reason I get dizzy sometimes to the point of being nauseous when I look at color tricks and this one was no exception of course my colorblindness is due to a head injury so my brain is broke anyway :). Interesting vid and good thing I had a light dinner.

[CousinoMacul]

Sorry to hear that. :-(

[Ender1zero1]

Nothing to be sorry about, I knew to watch at my own risk I always read the side bar. I've adapted very well and it makes coordinating my wardrobe a breeze :)

[HaleyMary]

2:43 that illusion was good. At first I had to put my hands around the gray strip to see that the A and B are both the same color.

Interesting bit about the peripheral vision. Quite interesting how that works. :)

[CousinoMacul]

My favorite thing about illusions is figuring out how they work.

[lamfrazier]

Fascinating

[CousinoMacul]

Indeed.

[kalsolarUK]

damn...fooled by my own brain..now I know what its like to be a fundamentalist christian.

[loveisallneed]

lol, not quite. the fundi would declare that they did not fall victim to the illusion and that anyone who did was under the spell of satan.

[CousinoMacul]

Nah. The illusions are real!

[silentbob36]

It faded back to grayscale after about a second or two, i guess im too good at focusing on dots or something.

[CousinoMacul]

The same happens to me. I was thinking of only leaving it up for just over a second, but thought that seeing the fade to gray might drive it home better (and I don't even know how fast it fades for others).

[itsbizbuz]

09:16 "Bang ! You gonna see it in full color" ^___^ My eyes owned me.

Epic video !

[CousinoMacul]

That one still amazes me.

[Mathfails]

cool imo!

[CousinoMacul]

Yeah!

[heatherlynblue]

illusions are fun.  : )

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks.

[UtopiaLtd]

I have always enjoyed a good illusion, and I have always thought of them as software glitches.

[mamdk]

I like to call it that the mind has "bugs"(from the electronics/software term) - Which actually tells us that we can't always rely on our senses.

There's just one thing that bothers me about this, that our senses come as they are and we can't do much about it, than to accept our organic "flaws"...

And then still how desirable is it really to become a robot?

[CousinoMacul]

Actually we must rely on our senses. The secret is to recognize their limitations and how they work so that we can better understand what it is that we're perceiving.

Even the best scientific instruments are actually "seeing reality" but taking specific measurements in specific ways. They aren't infallible--which is why scientists need to use good controls. So even a robot is susceptible to illusions, just not the same ones we are.

[CousinoMacul]

You shouldn't think of them as glitches. All perception systems are subject to some form of "illusion" (since omniscient perception is impossible).

[TheAtheistPaladin]

I nearly jumped out of my seat from the beetle. That was awesome.

[CousinoMacul]

It's a cool effect.

[0ThouArtThat0]

Great "illusions," though! These all show that there is no causal relationship between wave length of light and color perception. Color emerges based on context.

[CousinoMacul]

I guess that depends on how you define causality. The traditional model of "one cause → one effect" doesn't work in general and fails miserably for color perception. Wavelength certainly plays a role, but context is even more important.

[0ThouArtThat0]

It's also called the enactive theory of color. Color is not a mere secondary property projected onto primary properties by the brain. This Lockean theory of perception is too dualistic for my taste. Color is a result of the co-evolution of organisms and their earthly environments.

[sheepwshotguns]

=D

these video's are always fun

[CousinoMacul]

Thank you!

[0ThouArtThat0]

I think the subjectivist theory of color is just as misguided as the objectivist. The truth seems closer to the ecological theory as devised by Alva Noe and Evan Thompson. Check it out.

[ChaosWolfy]

That was very interesting, especially the part about peripheral vision. Great video.

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks