James Redekop
Mark Wyner Won’t Comply 
These cubes aren’t moving or changing (as implied by the arrows). At all. Not even a little. Other than the color toggle, they remain constant.
(Credit: Ja Gari Kin)
EDIT: added content warning because of the flashing.
I love all of the investigative analyses here. That’s part of the magic of these illusions; they give our brains a workout.
However, these cubes are indeed not changing. At least in the way the illusion implies. Yes, the line colors slightly shift. But the cubes are not twisting or changing position.
I’ve captured the 1st/last frames of two of the animations. You can see that while the lines shift a little, they’re not “changing” how the arrows suggest.
lobsterseeing is unbelieving 😉 hearing is silent 🗣️our only hope 🙊
Is Field/Feeled the Force ❤️🔥
Mat Bradshaw@markwyner witchcraft
MrShoggoth@markwyner - Stop that. 🥺🥺🥺
katrina@markwyner Do they need to be "moving" in opposite directions for the illusion to work?
@katrinatransfem that’s a really good question. I’m curious.
Sotolf@markwyner well, they are changing, the colours of the edges cycle in a way that makes your eye believe the cubes are doing stuff.
Nick Piegari@markwyner they kinda do though
Kim@nicksmadscience @markwyner it is the way the lines transition from black to white that appears to alter. Not the position of each line itself. The arrows only add to the suggested movement
Bornach@Ex_spurt @nicksmadscience @markwyner
The phi motion illusion is explained in more detail here
https://jake.vision/blog/motion-illusions/
Includes other examples where the illusory motion cues are not in opposing directions and don't include arrows
⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe@nicksmadscience @markwyner Ah! so this is the visual equivalent of a Shepard tone – they do move, but they don't go anywhere!
@fishidwardrobe @nicksmadscience nice analogy. I love it.
Rob Bos@markwyner
Wow. Usually these illusions break down if you cover them, but these keep working. Witchcraft!
@briankrebs
Wow. Usually these illusions break down if you cover them, but these keep working. Witchcraft!
@briankrebs
Ankit Pati@rbos @markwyner @briankrebs The reason is that you can never fully cover this illusion.
The arrows and spinners are decoys. They don’t work at all, even when uncovered. It’s the flashing colours that do the trick.
r҉ustic cy͠be̸rpu̵nk🤠🤖@markwyner This would be a fantastic object to make physically, with LED light strips and a center display for the arrows
William@cypnk @markwyner sadly no. Look closer at the lines, they are not a single line; you would need an LED at least 4 pixels wide.
They are a thin line and a thick line, and the relationship of the two defines the perceived motion. Particularly evident in the rotating examples where the "thin" line is a wedge along two opposite corners of a thick line.
Megahertz
Stevens R MillerThey don't move, but the black/white isn't just toggling. Capture two frames of motion about three or four frames apart and compare them. Here, I've done that when they are appearing to rotate, and put one frame in the upper half, the other frame in the lower half. You can see the gradient.
i.grok@stevensrmiller @markwyner slight movement is movement
I originally thought they moved, but they actually don't. The black/white toggle actually isn't a toggle. It's an animated gradient, but it remains entirely within the same thick lines that define the cubes' shapes.
This kind of "reverse phi" illusion works in a lot of other forms. Never seen this particular example before. They are all based on black/white changes that look to our eyes/brains like motion. Here's an explanation:
@stevensrmiller @markwyner the pixels in my screen aren't moving either, but it sounds less impressive when I put it that way ...
All illusions become less impressive when you know how they work. It's like finding out a magic trick was done with mirrors. Or, as the AI researchers will tell you, it's like finding out "it's just some code."
Still pretty impressive (though this one seems to make me nauseous in only a few seconds, alas).
@stevensrmiller @igrok @markwyner
Doesn't have to be black and white
Works with colour as well
https://nitter.nl/jagarikin/status/1334689789438644224
WOW! That one's an absolute beauty.
Inc Hulk 🧪@stevensrmiller @markwyner The actual shapes do not move, the colours within the vertical/horizontal bars of the boxes do move (thick white + thin black to thin black + thick gray for example).
Yes. It wouldn't work if the lines were too thin to show multiple bands. Still quite fascinating, even when you know how it works.
Reddog@markwyner They’re not.
MW1CFN@markwyner AAAAARGGGHHH!! 🤔
Administrator@markwyner What's amazing? Cover up the little arrows with my fingers, and the cubes still appear to move, grow, spin, etc.
Why?
Ian Tindale@markwyner ah, but what if those arrows were translated from English to a language I don’t know, like Korean or American or Mongolian? If foreign arrows were used, I’m sure the hypnotic suggestions would fall flat on their face
The Evil Microwizard@u0421793 @markwyner It still works even if the arrows are covered... because it isn't a simple black/white toggle. A gradient is animated across the "border" of the square in different ways according to the "movement" it wants you to see.
Attila Kinali@markwyner It's not just a color toggle. Each bar of the cubes is composed of three components: the center bulk and two 1-pixel wide edges. The bulk does a grey scale fade between black and white.
The edges do just a white/black toggle, but their timing relative to the bulk changes depending on what direction the cube should move. It's subtle but the human eye picks up these small cues and translates them into "movement".
Annie@markwyner Why is brain
AutisticMumTo3@markwyner
They are also flashing at such a rate to give me a headache.
#SensorySensitivities
#Autism
#ActuallyAutistc
They are also flashing at such a rate to give me a headache.
#SensorySensitivities
#Autism
#ActuallyAutistc
James Britt@markwyner colors slide in from different directions.
Devin Canterberry@markwyner Stop spreading lies.
Brian Grinter
GettinJimmy widdit🇺🇦@markwyner they really don't. Move? Wow
@Jimmyjimjim @markwyner They kind of do move. Just a little! Just the white parts.
Gorgeous na Shock!@markwyner A couple seconds of this is making me ill. 🤢
EDIT: I wish if I hid an image, Mastodon would keep it hidden instead of keeping it as a landmine on my feed... I might need to filter this post lol...
MacNinja
Enby Shark
Tracy Hall@markwyner
Yeah, it's a lie. Hold up a piece of paper or a business card aligned to edges. They're moving and/or scaling.
Yeah, it's a lie. Hold up a piece of paper or a business card aligned to edges. They're moving and/or scaling.
Kay Ohtie 🔜 FWA@markwyner @soatok I feel like "toggle" isn't correct, there's a gradient involved such that even covering the icons the effect persists, and looking closer you can see the 'sweep' change directions. It's pretty wild of an effect!
Jeremy Kahnwhat is this magic. WOW
Tom@markwyner that's awesome
Steve Dinn 🇨🇦@markwyner I see nothing but static drawings. In fact, the same drawing twice. Are the arrows supposed to change my perception? They do not.
I feel like the guy in Mallrats that keeps staring at the the 3D picture but can't see the sailboat.
@markwyner Damn it. @elk didn't animate the gif because I have the setting turned off. Continue as if you were normal.
@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNote@Pineywoozle @markwyner @elk You have no idea how long I stared at my screen, hopelessly looking for that damn sailboat :)
Viridi Vix [bupped]@markwyner I can agree that they aren't moving but cannot agree that they aren't changing, and moreso than just a little - if you focus on just one line of one cube you can see that the shadow/outline part that lags just behind the rest of the black/white flash effect will change which side of the line it applies to each time the arrow changes. this is what causes the change in cube motion effect. it is not just the arrow icon that changes.
the original illusion claims that the lines of each cube do not move and that is the only correct assertion about this illusion - other false assertions (that e.g. the effects also don't change in any way) were brought upon only by telephone game.
Jon Jennings@markwyner This #OpticalIllusion by Edward H. Adelson is another of my faves: squares A & B are the same colour.
I remember when I first saw it literally cutting out one square in GIMP & dragging it over the other :)
I remember when I first saw it literally cutting out one square in GIMP & dragging it over the other :)
🇺🇦 Richard Gunther 🏳️🌈🇺🇸
Santiago 
Gaëtan Perrault@markwyner but the lines on the border are clearly going through gray scale gradients. They're not toggling between two colors, if you pause it, you can see parts of the line are gray.
The outer lines of the cube are literally animated. To say that the cubes are not changing is to imply that the lines that define them is somehow not part of them.
Doesn't that sound like a weird statement to you?
@gatesvp I posted a fun optical illusion and used few words. I don’t really want to split hairs on how I worded this. The illusion is that the cubes are twisting, moving, and resizing. They’re not. But a combination of arrows and animated outlines tricks our brains into thinking they do. Sure, you can read “aren’t changing” as an absolute, or you can read it as they aren’t changing based on how we’re supposed to think they are. It’s just an illusion. It’s fun. Enjoy.