FLEX ENGLISH COMMUNICATION Ⅲ<Lesson 1>
Take a look at the object in the illustration below. What does it look like to you? To some people
this might appear to be a rabbit facing to the right, while to others it may seem like a duck looking in
the opposite direction. This illustration is an example of what is called an “optical illusion”, in otherwords it shows how our brains can interpret the same image in different ways. Illusions such as thesehave a variety of uses and are often seen around us in our daily lives.
To start, these types of illusions have traditionally been incorporated into various structural andarchitectural designs. For example, the karesansui (dry landscape) garden at the Zen temple Ryōanji
in Kyoto illustrates this concept well. At first glance, its entire surface may appear perfectly flat, but
if we look closer, we can see that it actually inclines towards the garden’s south-east corner. Also, theearthen wall on the west-side is slightly higher on its northern end. These features combine to create
an optical illusion and to our eyes the surface actually appears to be deeper than it truly is. This sameeffect can also be seen in the Ponzo Illusion, in which the uppermost horizontal line closer appears to
be longer than the line just below it, even though the two are exactly the same length.
Second, if we look at the image below we can see another example of an optical illusion. Theinterior of the house appears to have an extremely high ceiling though it is actually much lower thanit looks. Our brains interpret the image in this way as a result of the Fick Illusion (Figure 2), in which
the vertical line seems longer than the horizontal line, even though they are exactly the same length.
This effect can be very useful in architecture, as it can cause us to think a room is much more
spacious than it actually is.
Third, another valuable technique which has been used successfully in recent times is the creationof what appears to be a three-dimensional object on a two-dimensional surface. For example, in one
particular train station people are often unable to find an elevator because it is located in a blind spot,
so a sign that appears three-dimensional has been painted on the floor in order to help them find it
more easily. The sign quickly catches people’s attention and has been extremely successful in helping
reduce the number of people who have been become lost while trying to locate the elevator.
Last, they have been found to be useful in the field of transportation, in particular at intersections
which don’t have traffic lights. Crosswalk markers which appear to be three-dimensional have been
painted on some roads in an effort to prevent traffic accidents from occurring. From the viewpoint ofapproaching drivers, it looks like they are about to hit large concrete blocks which are in the road.
These were created in hopes that the drivers will see them and slow down as they get nearer thecrosswalk.
Optical illusions are just illusions. They cannot magically make a garden larger, nor can they truly
make a ceiling higher. Over time, even if a crosswalk is painted to appear three-dimensional, it will
eventually lose its effectiveness in preventing accidents as drivers who regularly see these markers
will get used to them and come to understand that what they are seeing is just an illusion and they
won’t slow down. That being said, even if we recognize such common limitations of these illusions,
we should be able to find numerous other useful applications for optical illusions in society.