Optical Illusion of The Day: Magic Tables Optical Illusion

Posted: 22 Dec 2012 03:47 AM PST

Here’s an illusion we already had an opportunity to experience first hand in one of our earlier posts. This is the best example I’ve seen up to date. Although it may seem intuitively impossible at first, when we take the shape of the table surface on the left and apply it to the table on the right, it matches exactly! If you don’t believe it, measure the tables with a ruler. Same goes for the books on the tables (they’re both the same size). Amazing isn’t it? Check out the animated proof I created for you below:

Magic Tables Optical Illusion

Although the brain is aware that these are flat pictures, it constructs a perception of the tables in which depth is taken into account. In this process, the brain unconsciously interprets that the actual depth of the table surface projected onto our retinas should appear shorter than they actually are, and compensates to make them appear longer.

Even after we discover that the two table surfaces are same in size, we still can’t change the interpretation that the brain has constructed! Check the animated proof below, and try to pinpoint at which frame does your brain start to perceive the table surfaces as identical.

3d illusion arts