If you suffer from motion sickness, now might be a really good time to get out your Dramamine.  As your eyes move across this series of nine distorted circular objects, you may notice that they start to move or pulsate.  It almost looks as if the circles are made of wax and are somehow melting […]

The blue and yellow circles made up of what look like bicycle chains appear to spontaneously rotate.  Try focusing your attention on only one of the six circles at a time and you should find that the one you are focusing on stops moving.  If you want to maximize the motion effect, move your eyes […]

This purple circle created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka appears to wobble and pulsate as you look at it.  Try focusing on the gray dot int he center of the image and then moving your head around.  You will find that the circle appears to be very unstable against the black background. (via Akiyoshi Kitaoka)

The flickering circles in this video appear to wander around randomly.  The circles are not moving (just flickering), but the shapes seem to drift whenever you do not look directly at the circles.  You can frame the circles with lines and they will still appear to move.  It is interesting to note that the more […]

The green circle in the center of this image, which Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka calls a “watermelon”, appears to sway back and forth and be unstable against the gray background.  I personally find this image to be difficult to look at for too long.  This one actually makes my eyes hurt! Another good example of this […]

When it comes to motion illusions, it is safe to say that no one does it better than Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.  If you look at the two multi-colored rings below, which Professor Kitaoka calls “Swimming Rings”, you will notice that they both appear to rotate in a clockwise manner. […]

The four spheres (which the artist calls baubles) appear to be moving.  If you move your eyes rapidly around the image, you will find that the motion effect is enhanced. A larger, single bauble version of this image can be found below. To see more motion illusions from Kaia Nao, please check out Floating Star […]