In spite of how it appears, all the lines are straight and all the squares are square in the picture above. Don't believe me? Hold a straight edge against the screen along any of the lines.
Weird, huh? So, what does distort our perception? How distorted can our perception get?
2 comments:
I believe that this figure is created by depressing the center of the group so those squares are further away than the edges. While a straight edge seems to lie along the lines, I think the difference is too small to detect that way. Not every checkerboard appears like this.
Dad
You must be looking at this figure on your expensive three-dimensional computer screen. My screen is flat and so I cannot say that the center squares are further away than the edges. On my screen the center and edge squares all lie on a flat plane. On my screen it is the appearance that the lines bend toward the middle and that the squares are not square.
But the truth is that all the lines are straight and all the squares are square.
I like your answer, though -- it belies a healthy amount of suspiciousness.
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