I had complained that a site which Mike Palij had recommended for this demo turned out to be a disappointment. This was because the author claimed to have a good idea how it was done, but would not reveal it.
Mike replied with a lecture on the topic of the privileged nature of the tricks of magicians and (I presume), that we were rude (or perhaps boorish) to ask to have it explained. I disagree. Psychologists have an interest in optical illusions in part because they help us to understand how the brain works That was the point of this thread and what we help students to do in the classroom, and we have nothing to apologize for in pursuing it. Inquiring minds want to know. Mike also wrote: > So, how many hours/days/weeks are you willing to spend to > figure out the solution? Not so many are now needed, perhaps. I sent it along to my techno- geek daughter, and she speculated that it was due to a motorized wheel and cgi water. I had seen this term "cgi" in some of the posted comments but didn't know what it meant. Now I do. "Cgi" stands for "computer-generated imagery". What she is suggesting is that this illusion, like the film "Avatar", was created on the screen rather than in our brains. Mcwolles may have taken a 3-dimensional representation of the Escher drawing along the lines suggested by Barbara's drawing, and superimposed on it an animation of water. It seems a plausible, parsimonious solution. So, no Ames messy basement room required, no real water flow at all. But if that's the way he did it, it's a disappointment, a trick rather than a true optical illusion. Still clever, I grudgingly admit. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=8871 or send a blank email to leave-8871-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
