Last week a new Scientific American Mind issue was released, and with it, our column Illusions showcased an amazing type of visual illusion called “implied motion”. This is where you perceive that motion is happening due to the cognitive content of an image, despite the fact that nothing is actually moving. To celebrate implied motion, here’s a terrific movie of a chocolate zoetrope; these animation machines predated cinema and worked by displaying a series of images or objects in quick succession that implied that the stationary object depicted were instead moving.
Enjoy!
The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Stephen L. Macknik is a professor of opthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Along with Susana Martinez-Conde and Sandra Blakeslee, he is author of the Prisma Prize-winning Sleights of Mind. Their forthcoming book, Champions of Illusion, will be published by Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Follow Stephen L. Macknik on Twitter Credit: Sean McCabe
Last week a new Scientific American Mind issue was released, and with it, our column Illusions showcased an amazing type of visual illusion called “implied motion”. This is where you perceive that motion is happening due to the cognitive content of an image, despite the fact that nothing is actually moving. To celebrate implied motion, here’s a terrific movie of a chocolate zoetrope; these animation machines predated cinema and worked by displaying a series of images or objects in quick succession that implied that the stationary object depicted were instead moving.
