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Ambiguous Visual Illusion

What do you see?

Lift

Do you see a series of black shapes on a white back­ground, or do you see a white word on black background?

This image is an exam­ple of an ambigu­ous illu­sion — a pic­ture or object that requires per­cep­tual switch­ing between the alter­na­tive inter­pre­ta­tions of fig­ure and ground. Our visual sys­tem sim­pli­fies visual scenes into a fore­ground fig­ure that we focus on and a ground which is every­thing else and forms the back­ground. And although you may be able to switch the fig­ure and ground back and forth to see one image or the other, your eyes will not let you see both images at the same time. Our visual per­cep­tion is cre­ated by our brain’s inter­pre­ta­tion in the cere­bral cor­tex of visual infor­ma­tion enter­ing through the visual path­way.

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Categories: Brain Teasers, Cognitive Neuroscience, Health & Wellness, Peak Performance

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30 Responses

  1. Richard York says:

    LIFT

  2. Sheri says:

    LIFT

  3. ET says:

    I can see both, whichever I want

  4. Halidom says:

    I can see both but it seems to switch back and forth as I move my eyes across the picture.

  5. Mark says:

    The word Lift

  6. Peanut says:

    LIFT

  7. yahobahne says:

    the word lift

  8. Cheese says:

    Lift

  9. CHRIS says:

    LIFT

  10. Aaron says:

    The word LIFT :)

  11. play4evr says:

    LIFT

  12. ShelbyJune says:

    LIFT, although I can see both fig­ures and word.

  13. zoomspark says:

    i see the word ‘laughed’. oh…oh wait, it reads: lift.

  14. deedee says:

    i see both but it’s a lot harder to just see the shapes rather than the word lift

  15. Deloris says:

    I see a white word on a black background.

  16. Stephanie says:

    lift is the answer. why was this ques­tion so much easier?

  17. lexi says:

    LIFT is what i see

  18. iyana says:

    i see the word LIFT in white

  19. hides says:

    the first few sec­onds i only saw the shapes, but after that i saw the word lift. now i can see both…switch back and forth

  20. Sina says:

    Lift works
    Shapes works

  21. Deepthi says:

    LIFT

  22. johara says:

    i can see lift

  23. sreekanth says:

    can see both white and black back­ground and the word lift

  24. cluisa says:

    couldn’t see any­thing but back­ground even though i knew the word was lift because link brought be in at bot­tom.… let myself look a bit.… still bkg.… then by pick­ing up the bot­tom of the l was able to grab and eas­ily see the word

  25. Gary R says:

    Actu­ally, I can see both, and alter­nate between the two.

    Was actu­ally look­ing for the Old woman and young woman visual, that one I can see both and the Old woman and swith to the young woman. Would like to see more of this, Does any­one out there know where this site might be that has lots of visuals?

    Thanks,
    Gary R

  26. Daniel says:

    a white word on a black background

  27. Dimwit says:

    I SEE

    OBAMA

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