How the time of year could affect what you see in some mind-bending optical illusions
OPTICAL illusions boggle the mind all of the time – but how you perceive them may depend on the time of year.
Looking at the “duck or bunny” optical illusion, the brain might form a stronger association with one depending on the time of year, research suggests.
Experts have explained in a study published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills that the drawing was shown to 265 subjects on Easter and 276 in October.
A majority of people saw the bunny on Easter and the bird in October.
“This biasing effect of expectancy upon perception was observed for young children (2 to 10 years) as well as for older subjects (11 to 93 years),” the researchers said.
A related study reports this illusion is also a test of creativity.
It asked participants how easy it was for them to flip back and forth between seeing the rabbit and the duck.
Those with the ability to choose which animal they could see showed a higher aptitude for creativity.
Some optical illusions depend on biases and associations, and not everyone views them in the same way.
Certain eye-related conditions or diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy can affect a person’s contrast sensitivity.
Another element to these illusions is contrast sensitivity, which is a measure of the ability of the visual system to distinguish an object against its background.
A target must be big enough to be seen, but also be of high enough contrast with its background, according to Science Direct.
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When stationary objects appear to be moving back and forth or up and down, it’s called oscillopsia.
Most people use the terms “optical illusion” and “visual illusion” interchangeably, according to Psychology Today.
Optical illusions are specific to how light interacts with matter like how a pencil looks bent when placed in a glass of water.
Visual illusions are caused by the processing in the visual system.
Perceptions of a visual illusion are the end results of cognitive processing steps and may or may not related to objective reality.
Some illusions might be perceived differently based on age.
A study in Australia found younger people tend to see a young woman first while older people saw the older woman first.
“The results therefore demonstrate that high-level social group processes have a subconscious effect on the early stages of face processing,” researchers said in the study.