Pulsating Nightmare Optical Illusion

Originally titled “Here comes another seizure“, the disturbing background pattern used in this tremendous optical illusions comes from Tautvydas Davainis’s digital studio. I don’t know about you, but there’s something quite disturbing about it – it is as if I’m becoming more and more nervous while looking at it. Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of The Moon” cover was just plastered on top to make the illusion more interesting and spooky. It helps with focus and strengthens “pulsation” as well! Not sure what’s causing the illusion to be frank, but I suspect it has something to do with our eyes’ microsaccades (small involuntary eye movements we all experience, but usually don’t notice). When you’re finished with this one, check out the following gag!

15 Replies to “Pulsating Nightmare Optical Illusion”

  1. I was told by my science teacher in, middle school, that when you put some colors together they seem to vibrate. A good example is red and blue. There is probably a more siphisticated explanation now. I mean, he told me this the same time Star Trek(Shatner and Nemoy)came out. We where discussing the lurid costumes they wore.

  2. I’d bet on the microsaccades theory, although I also agree it only partly explains how this comes about.

    I’m able to make the effect disappear – the image stops “vibrating” – when I concentrate on keeping my eye(s) on just one point.

    Freaky effect, though!

  3. wow, that’s one of the best working illusion of this kind I’ve seen. It’s so disturbing, great!
    Try moving your head closer and further from the screen, the effect is even better.

  4. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a neuroscientist hook up some electrodes to a brain see what parts would be lighting up on the scanner when looking at this image? I’d just bet – based on the comments here – and what I felt too – that indeed some part of the emotional portions of the brain would be lit up like a Christmas tree. That’s messed up. (Dang it…if I hadn’t skipped Trig in college to play Centipede I might have BECOME a neuroscientist!)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *