Your Eyes Can Deceive You

I would have to say that this is the most unusual post I’ve ever published here. And I also have to admit that it has very little to do with music, but I’ve been wanting to post this thingy for quite a while now because it fascinates me.

It showed up in my email a while back (I think from ‘M’, but if it was someone else I apologize). It is, of course, what is sometimes called an optical illusion; a demonstration of how your eyes can fool you.

My understanding is that it doesn’t work for everyone, but most of us will see a circle of progressively-flashing pink dots surrounding a small black cross. Now here’s where it gets strange. If you concentrate and just stare at the black cross, in your peripheral vision you should notice that the flashing dot has turned to green — and then all the pink dots disappear, leaving the green one circling alone.

Strange but true, and an example of how what you see is not always what’s there.

Paul Desmond – “Circles”