How our brains fool us: US scientist gives Hong Kong lectures on illusions

At first glance, it looks like a normal ball spinning down in a straight line – but that’s only if you stare at the spinning ball itself.

But it’s certainly not magic. It’s an award-winning visual illusion created by Professor Arthur Shapiro, a brain scientist at the American University in Washington. He is giving a series of lectures on the science of visual illusions in Hong Kong.

“Our brain is the big deceiver,” said Shapiro. “There is a reality out there that your brain has to translate and construct your world.”

In the case of the curveball, the ball is falling down in a straight line but is also spinning to the left. Our brain combines these two motions to create the illusion of a curve, said Shapiro.

He said the deception was the reason behind the now famous “dress debate”, which unfurled around a washed-out photo of a dress that went viral on social networking sites, with people disputing whether the colour of the dress was blue and black, or white and gold.

The colour of the original dress in the photo was actually blue and black. It was identified as a product by retailer Roman Originals.