The Checkershadow Illusion
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KRIS: Hey, Jay.
JAYKISHAN PATEL: Hey, Kris.
KRIS: Teach me something.
JAYKISHAN PATEL: Sure. Do you want to know about the checkerboard shadow illusion?
KRIS: Sure.
JAYKISHAN PATEL: Here's the image. I want you to tell me which one of A and B appears darker to you.
KRIS: A looks darker.
JAYKISHAN PATEL: A looks darker to me too. But let's examine if that's true. So this is the color of A, and this is the color of B.
KRIS: Wow. They look the same.
JAYKISHAN PATEL: They're exactly the same. Do you know why one of them might appear darker to you?
KRIS: No. Why is that?
JAYKISHAN PATEL: Because one of them is under shadow, and we want to know the physical color of the object, our visual system basically says we're getting the same amount of photons from these two tiles, and one is under shadow, so it just makes it lighter for us.
Jaykishan Patel, Ph.D in Brain Behavior and Cognitive Sciences, York University
Want to learn more? https://teachmesomething.mit.edu/tms/checkershadow-illusion
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