The round inset in the middle appears to move.  This illusion, created by Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka, is a variation of the Ouchi Illusion and yields a really interesting effect. More motion illusions can be found on Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s site.

Stare at the blinking green dot in the center of this animated image.  As you do, you will begin to experience a motion induced blindness.  The three yellow dots will start to randomly disappear and reappear.  Sometimes you will notice that one is missing and other times it may seem that two or all three […]

We have featured terrific motion illusions from optical artist Kaia Nao in the past.  If you missed them, you may want to take a look at the floating star illusion and tunnel vision.  Below, he has created a design that features ten very colorful caterpillars.  When you look at the entire image, do they appear […]

Stare at the center of this figure.  Does it appear that there is scintillating activity (or movement) within the purple rings? This figure, titled “The Enigma”, was painted by Isia Leviant in 1981.

This is a pretty powerful example of a motion illusion.  Do the green, purple, white and black “tubes” appear to be moving in a swirling motion?  It almost appears as though the objects are made of wax and melting on the screen.

The Ouchi illusion is named after Japanese artist Hajime Ouchi.  The central disk with vertical black and white bars appears to float above the background with the horizontal black and white bars. This version of the Ouchi illusion was drawn by Japanese profressor Akiyoshi Kitaoka for Visiome in 2005.

Look at the black dot in the center of this image and move your head closer to your screen and then back again.  Do the outer circles appear to be moving? This illusion, known as the Pinna illusion, was the first visual illusion to show a rotating motion effect.  It was discovered by Dr. Baingio […]