The Illusion Only Some People Can See

Special thanks to:

References:

Marcel de Heer & Thomas V. Papathomas (2017) The Ames Window Illusion and Its Variations
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794607.003.0014

Oross, Stephen, Francis, Ellie, Mauk, Deborah & Fox, Robert. (1987). The Ames Window Illusion: Perception of Illusory Motion by Human Infants. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 13(4), 609-613.

Behrens, R. (1987). The Life and Unusual Ideas of Adelbert Ames, Jr. Leonardo, 20(3), 273-279. doi:10.2307/1578173

Burnham, C., & Ono, H. (1969). Variables Altering Perception of the Rotating Trapezoidal Illusion. The American Journal of Psychology, 82(1), 86-95. doi:10.2307/1420609

Zenhausern R. Effect of Perspective on Two Trapezoid Illusions. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1969;28(3):1003-1009. doi:10.2466/pms.1969.28.3.1003

Gregory RL. Looking through the Ames window. Perception. 2009;38(12):1739-40. doi: 10.1068/p3812ed. PMID: 20192124.

V. Mary Stewart (1974) A Cross-Cultural Test of the “Carpentered World” Hypothesis Using The Ames Distorted Room Illusion, International Journal of Psychology, 9:2, 79-89, DOI: 10.1080/00207597408247094

Margaret Kathleen Cappone (1966) The Effect of Verbal Suggestion on the Reversal Rate of the Ames Trapezoid Illusion, The Journal of Psychology, 62:2, 211-219, DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1966.10543786

Researched and written by Petr Lebedev and Derek Muller
Filmed by Derek Muller and Raquel Nuno
Animations, VFX, and Music by Jonny Hyman
Ames Room VFX and additional Ames Window animation by Nicolas Pratt
Large Ames window construction by GW Construction
Video supplied by Getty Images

[MakersMuse]

Dude, the example with the rubix cube absolutely broke me. Even if you try to cheat and look at an edge it still tricks you. The Curiosity Show is a goldmine!

[garryheywood]

This has gotta be the most disturbing illusion I have ever seen, no matter how hard I try to beat it, it gets me every time.

[besmart]

Well I guess I can stop working on.… exactly the same video 😂🤦‍♂️

[mark]

I lost my left eye about 18 months ago and now am attempting to coach my daughters volleyball team. It's super hard for the girls to understand that I am sometimes struggling to see which side of the net the ball has fallen to. Furthermore I had run an industrial repair company for 30 years. After the accident I was only able to effectively repair items that I had previously repaired prior to the accident. Newer items that I had never seen previously all looked like flat nickels. It has been so hard for me to understand the thinking of the engineer without being able to see the depth. This also is so hard to explain. Now after seeing this video, I can see why I'm struggling. Super helpful really!! Great job as always.

[Arkay_]

I love how this guy tricks us into gaining knowledge.

[MofoMan]

What's even better is when you can consciously "switch" the illusion on and off in your mind. Or essentially see both perspectives at once.

[SebastianLague]

Can't get to the rest of the video because I keep replaying the bit at 0:18 over and over again. Such an incredibly bizarre-looking effect! I'm very curious to learn how it works, juust gotta watch it again one more time...

[Incepter.]

The Ames Window Illusion is just so mind-boggling to me, no matter how much I tried to trick it, it always seems to me that it is oscillating.

[fiddley]

Ruler: Seamlessly slides through matter, which is impossible
My Brain: I'm ok with this

[perstouch]

“My Brain prefers the illusion, rather than what’s actually this isn’t 2020 in a nutshell lol

[pratikdedhia]

"We should approach the world and our conclusions about it with a little more humility and a little less certainty"
Starting off this hopefully exciting year with thisexcellent lesson. Thanks a lot.

[bhornannawindeedeigh]

When I was in college in the 70s, I majored in Psychology. One of my favorite psych classes was the Psychology of Perception. The professor who taught the class had so many of the coolest contraptions to illustrate illusions, like the Ames Window in this vid. I loved that class... never fell asleep in there. It was wonderful.

[halflucan]

After staring at this for a while, I can see the rotation on the big wooden versions, but the paper ones still kill me

[aria]

That hands down is the craziest illusion I've ever seen.

[TheNightFalxon]

The ruler part is so weird, it phases through the window but in such a weird way, like it’s not actually clipping through, *this is so wild and infuriating at the same time*

[effychase]

I first became aware of this illusion while in person at Six Flags in Atlanta, Georgia back in the early 70's when, after stepping into a "Room", the perceived perception of depths & distance conflicted with my natural understanding of the world. I was maybe 11 years old back then and the illusion imprinted on me. Thes explanation from this video helped explain the perception.

[mattiarubio]

Me after re-watching the video 5 times and finally seeing it rotate
“Finally, inner peace”

[jrsmth]

I'm screaming at my brain: "STOP SEEING THE ILLUSION!!!" But I can't stop seeing it!

[Behinddarkness]

I have always found it amazing how our brains are programmed even at a subconscious level. In Haunted Houses and Fun Houses, it is not uncommon to come across a room where a stationary bridge goes through a spinning cylindrical hallway. Automatically you will start to feel dizzy and your body will feel almost as if it is flipping over. That is because your brain doesn’t understand the concept of a room flipping over and over so your senses are telling you that you are the one who must be flipping over and over. All fascinating things.

[vulcanh]

This is fascinating and mind boggling. Even knowing what the image looks like, knowing that it's rotating, knowing how the illusion works and why my brain is fooled, I still can't see it any other way. It just seems impossible for my brain to look at it as rotating naturally.