I love the ‘eyes open – eyes shut’ illusion. Here are three of the best….
Which is your favourite?
Richard Wiseman
Quirky mind stuff
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I love the ‘eyes open – eyes shut’ illusion. Here are three of the best….
Which is your favourite?
first one
The middle one, by far
But it’s not really an illusion, is it? It’s more of a double exposure. The eyes really are there. It’s not something else that in some cases looks like eyes
I think you’ll find its make up
Thanks for sharing these, Richard
I’ve always liked these sort of double-take images and the second of the three here is the most convincing. Whether it’s done with clever editing or with skilled make-up it’s certainly the most realistic. Again, it’s interesting how the mind sort of flips from one interpretation to another, even when knowing that the eyes are truly closed 
Thanks again for more delightfully eye-opening illustions 
And I’ve no idea what “illustions” are, but thanks for the illusions!
How do you make the mouth bigger on those smileys?
Aw, what a delightful question, Martha, thanks for that
The smaller-smiling smiley is a colon : and a closed bracket ) whereas the wider-grinning smiley is a colon : and a capital D giving 
and 
respectively. Hope that’s some help 
Is the real illusion the fact that people disagree on which is the best illusion? The best is clearly number 3!
2
I can’t get #2 and #3 to be bistable, #1 is terrific,
Finally, after great effort I got #2 to shut her shut eyes.
I get the feeling that all of them would work better if they wore less mascara on their eyelashes. 2 is beautifully clear, but the eyelashes ruin the illusion.
First one. The big eyelashes make it so clear what’s going on in the second, and the third is too sketchy/blurry.
Definitely the first. It’s the most natural looking. The third is not bad, but the second is just plain weird.
In a similar vein, this image scared the heck out of me as a kid, watching “Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl”…
Oops. The URL got truncated. http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/3/37/Fendahlcore.jpg
And I couldn’t work out for ages whether Kassia’s eyes in The Keeper of Traken were painted or what: http://bit.ly/Q7PaWC
This illusion has been used to con people out of money. Google “Jesus prayer rug” to find out more. You get randomly sent an envelope full of bumf, including an image of Jesus, who on first sight has his eyes closed. You’re encouraged to pray while looking at the image of Jesus. If you see Jesus’s eyes open, then your prayer has been heard (or something like that) and then you’re supposed to send some money to an address in Oklahoma.
This is why sharing information about cognitive illusions of this sort is a Good Thing.
The first one, because it’s the original from decades ago. The second one is just a modern copy, and the third one is messy and hardly visible.
Woul like to see one of these with one eye open and one shut.
The order they appear