Perhaps the best place to start in our trip through the world of illusions is one of the most well known of all and one that you are likely to have seen before many times. Known as "Rubin's Vase" this simple illusion devised by Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin can be perceived as both a vase or as the profiles of two human faces gazing at one another. This is often considered to be one of the best examples of an optical illusion.
Image Credit: John Smithson
The illusion works in that the contours of one image match the contours of the other in such a way as to confuse the brain in to perceiving two interpretations of what is there.
"One can then state as a fundamental principle: When two fields have a common border, and one is seen as figure and the other as ground, the immediate perceptual experience is characterized by a shaping effect which emerges from the common border of the fields and which operates only on one field or operates more strongly on one than on the other." - Edgar Rubin, 1915
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Posted by nelle
on August 10, 2010
so what is the back ground of this illusion?
Posted by hollee m
on July 31, 2010
omg no i have not seen that one before but i finally got it. hip hip harray
Posted by hannuuuuuuhh
on January 25, 2010
i see it
Posted by Poo
on January 21, 2010
i love these type of illusions. my friend had a picture taken of her and her boyfriend and it looks just like that
Posted by mer
on November 25, 2009
i guess when we see the vace more "highlighted" on the left, it gives us the feel its a vace, and you can automatically tell on both of them... which is 2 peoples faces and a vace...
but you only need 1 of them, to see both illusions in 1...
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