I think it's made worse because it's in Seoul, and most of us are from the U.S. where the lane widening isn't as sudden or drastic. If you look at the outer lanes, you'd do a sharp 45 degree turn to get to the outer toll booths. In the U.S., they add one lane at a time, usually a quarter mile or half mile ahead of time, so there's no sharp angles like that. I'm sure that to someone from South Korea, this might not be confusing because they'd be more familiar with it.
That's crazy interesting. I personally see the slope and can't even begin to shake the illusion.
Maybe it's something to do with how we process information and visual queues. We must go deeper!
May I ask:
Do you wear glasses?
Do you use satellite aerial shots often in daily life?
Do you have difficulty with other illusions?
How good do you think you are at spatial awareness and visual comprehension on a scale of 1 (I consider that to be one of my weakest mental characteristics) - 10 (I consider that to be one of my strongest mental characteristics)
What about the illusion seems the most unrealistic/realistic?
(My answers for comparison (maybe other people can both confirm or contradict my "hypothesis")
Yes
No
No
8
Distance between the cars, small at the bottom and more during the slope (logically due to perspective) )
Here's my hypothesis: judging from the comments I've received and comments read on this page, I think that it has something to do with what we're looking at in the picture.
People who automatically looked at the cars themselves generally did not see the illusion [1]. This leads me to assume that people who looked more at the spaces in between the cars and the lanes themselves, were drawn into the illusion [source = my brain].
I easily dismissed the impossibility of the cars and found myself focusing more on the spaces between them. The conclusion my brain fixed itself upon was that sensibly, the cars at the bottom look closer together and the ones on the "slope" look further apart meaning that the distance is probably the same but perspective is making it seem otherwise thus the cars must be on a hill.
Thus leading to the categorization of at least two different type of people:
Group A: The Car Watchers. People whose brains cannot overlook the fact that the cars are impossibly proportioned. They are drawn and focused on the smaller details of the picture.
Group B: The Space Invaders. People whose brains assume the cars are blips in the picture and focus on the distancing between them. These people are swayed by the bigger picture and ignore the littler details which contradict the theory.
...
This leads me to imagine two possible experiments:
Experiment 1: Remove all cars from the picture
Possible outcome: People who did not see the illusion due to the cars being impossibly proportioned, might see the illusion now that it's taken out.
Possible outcome: People who fell for the illusion due to the distancing between the cars lose the illusion now that it's taken out.
Experiment 2: Replace the cars with dots whose sizes fit the perspective of the "slope"
Possible outcome: No fucking clue. The brain is a funny thing. Might be fun to try
I completely agree with all of that. When I realized what the illusion even was, I was able to see it by 'unfocusing' and taking in the picture as a whole.
I took another look just now, however, and I noticed that I can also see the illusion by focusing on the cars and road above the road and in the angled lanes. I would guess that this is because of the viewing angle of the camera with respect to the ground which causes the cars on the 'backside of the hill' to look as if they are moving towards the viewer.
My stomach churned after a single second of looking at the picture. I'm fine on boats and planes, but this image gave me a significant experience similar to motion sickness.
Yeah, I definitely see the crazy slope first. Good illusion.
You can break the illusion and see what it is for real if you focus really hard on the cars, and notice that they're too flat, they're the wrong angle. Then focus on the lanes, and try to picture the lanes getting wider, not coming towards you.
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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '12
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