We think it would be impossible to create a list with all the strange things that happened in 2021, because the year itself (with the help of a certain bug addicted to the Greek alphabet) took care of making a revolution, but what we can do is separate the most entertaining, and that’s where optical illusions from the Illusion of the Year competition appear. The best optical illusion of 2021 is called The Phantom Queen, and it definitely deserves our attention, but it would be a serious mistake to ignore its rivals...
Illusion of the Year: The Best Optical Illusions of 2021
Optical illusions. Sometimes they are accidental, and other times they demand extraordinary work, but the final result is the same: our brain with a blue screen. And never enough with one, there is always time and desire to see more. That leads us directly to the annual Illusion of the Year competition organized by the Neural Correlate Society, which in its latest edition brought together the best optical illusions of 2021. Here you have the winners.
The Phantom Queen: Best Optical Illusion of 2021
This illusion developed by Matt Pritchard from the United Kingdom demonstrates the concept of anamorphic camouflage. The white queen appears only as a reflection, while its place on the board seems empty. In reality, a "wall" that mimics the board pattern hides the queen when observed from a specific angle, and the back of the wall also reproduces the same pattern, helping maintain the illusion in the mirror. Equally impressive is the demo of the cats, which appear "out of nowhere" on the board.
Second Place: The Changing Room Illusion
Created by Michael A. Cohen in the United States, the Changing Room Illusion is a solid example of gradual change blindness, in which an observer is unable to detect modifications in their environment if they are gradual enough. The most interesting thing is that while we can focus our attention on some objects (say, the portraits in the background), we can’t do it on all. The differences between the first frame of the video and the last are truly impressive.
Third Place: The Double Ring Illusion
In this illusion made by Dawei Bai and Brent Strickland, we find two rings that rotate 360 degrees. However, when the rings overlap, the movement changes from rotation to oscillation of 180 degrees, bouncing back and forth to avoid contact. In reality, the properties of the rings remain intact in both cases, and the only thing that changes is our interpretation of their movement, because our visual system knows that the rings cannot cross each other.
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