Rotating snakes 13

I produced several variants of "Rotating snakes" because this work seems to be preferred by many people.

since January 13, 2010


The "optimized Fraser-Wilcox" illusion (including the "Rotating snakes" illusion)


Related references
<before February 7, 2011>

Idesawa, M. (2010) A Model of Illusory Motion Perception in Still Figures. Optical Review, 17, 557–561.

Tomimatsu, E., Ito, H., Seno, T., and Sunaga, S. (2010) The ‘rotating snakes’ in smooth motion do not appear to rotate. Perception, 39, 721-724.

Fermüller, C., Ji, H., and Kitaoka, A. (2010) Illusory motion due to causal time filtering. Vision Research, 50, 315–329.

Scientific American Mind, Special Issue: 169 Best Illusions (2010).

Kitaoka, A. (2008) Trick Eyes Mechanism. Tokyo: Kanzen (in Japanese). More info

Kuriki, I., Ashida, H., Murakami, I., and Kitaoka, A. (2008). Functional brain imaging of the Rotating Snakes illusion by fMRI. Journal of Vision, 8(10):16, 1-10. PDF

Journal of Vision    Volume 8, Number 10, Article 16, Pages 1-10
Functional brain imaging of the Rotating Snakes illusion by fMRI
Ichiro Kuriki
Hiroshi Ashida
Ikuya Murakami
Akiyoshi Kitaoka
http://journalofvision.org/8/10/16/

Kitaoka, A. (2008) Optimized Fraser-Wilcox illusions: A pictorial classification by Akiyoshi Kitaoka. Talk in a workshop (WS005) in the 72nd Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, September 19, 2008. Presentation (html)

Kuriki, I., Ashida, H., Murakami, I., and Kitaoka, A. (2008) Functional brain imaging of the 'Rotating Snakes' illusion. Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract, Journal of Vision, 8(6),64a. http://www.journalofvision.org/8/6/64/

Hisakata, R. and Murakami, I. (2008) The effects of eccentricity and retinal illuminance on the illusory motion seen in a stationary luminance gradient. Vision Research, 49, 1940-1948.

Beer, A. L., Heckel, A. H. and Greenlee, M. W. (2008) A motion illusion reveals mechanisms of perceptual stabilization. PLoS ONE, 3(7): e2741, 1-7. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002741 Freely available online

Chi, M-T., Lee, T-Y., Qu, Y., and Wong, T-T. (2008) Self-Animating Images: Illusory Motion Using Repeated Asymmetric Patterns. ACM Transaction on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2008), 27, No.3. SIGGRAPH2008 --- Authors' page --- PDF (SIGGRAPH)

Scientific American Reports Special Edition on Perception (2008).

Kitaoka, A. and Ashida, H. (2007) A variant of the anomalous motion illusion based upon contrast and visual latency. Perception, 36, 1019-1035. PDF request to Akiyoshi Kitaoka

Newton Press (Ed.), A. Kitaoka (Supervisor) (2007) Newton magazine book: Special issue "How is the brain deceived? Perfect demonstration of visual illusions" Tokyo: Newton Press (in Japanese; published in October 2007). 

Ramachandran, V. S. and Rogers-Ramachandran, D. (2007) A Moving Experience: How the eyes can see movement where it does not exist. Scientific American Mind, February/March, 14-16.

Kitaoka, A. (2007) Phenomenal classification of the “optimized” Fraser-Wilcox illusion and the effect of color. Poster presentation in DemoNight, VSS2007, GWiz, Sarasota, Florida, USA, May 14, 2007.

Murakami, I., Kitaoka, A. and Ashida, H. (2006) A positive correlation between fixation instability and the strength of illusory motion in a static display. Vision Research, 46, 2421-2431. PDF request should be sent to Dr. Murakami

Kitaoka, A. (2006) Anomalous motion illusion and stereopsis. Journal of Three Dimensional Images (Japan), 20, 9-14. PDF (manuscript but the same as the printed one)

Kanazawa, S., Kitaoka, A. and Yamaguchi, M. K. (2006) Infants see the “Rotating Snake” illusion. Dorsal and ventral streams in the visual system (Talk): Monday, 21 August 2006; 12:00-12:30 (29th European Conference on Visual Perception, St-Petersburg, Russia, 20th-25th August, 2006) Abstract

Kitaoka, A., Ashida, H., and Murakami, I. (2005) Does the peripheral drift illusion generate illusory motion in depth? Journal of Three Dimensional Images (Tokyo), 19, 6-8. PDF (scanned copy) (poor quality) --- MS-Word file (manuscript, the same as the paper) (high quality)

Conway, R. B., Kitaoka, A., Yazdanbakhsh, A., Pack, C. C., and Livingstone, M. S. (2005) Neural basis for a powerful static motion illusion. Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 5651-5656. PDF request should be sent to Dr. Conway

Backus, B. T. and Oruç, I. (2005) Illusory motion from change over time in the response to contrast and luminance. Journal of Vision, 5, 1055-1069. http://journalofvision.org/5/11/10/

Kitaoka, A. and Ashida, H. (2003) Phenomenal characteristics of the peripheral drift illusion. VISION (Journal of the Vision Society of Japan), 15, 261-262. PDF

Naor-Raz, G. and Sekuler, R. (2000) Perceptual dimorphism in visual motion from stationary patterns. Perception, 29, 325-335.

Faubert, J. and Herbert, A. M. (1999) The peripheral drift illusion: A motion illusion in the visual periphery. Perception, 28, 617-621.

Fraser, A. and Wilcox, K. J. (1979) Perception of illusory movement. Nature, 281, 565-566.




Comparison to the "central drift" illusion



"A test stimulus and a control stimulus"

Each disk of the left image appears to rotate while each disk of the right one does not.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2011 (July 14)



"Loose rotating snakes can"

The can might appear to sway laterally.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2011 (February 8)



"Loose rotating snakes: a red painting"

Each disk appears to rotate.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2011 (February 8)



"Rotating snakes with eyes"

Each disk appears to rotate. In each disk, concentric gray rings appear to be spirals.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2011 (January 23)



"Rotating snakes 2011"

Each disk appears to rotate.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2011 (January 23)

Adjusted for printing using EPSON PM-4000PX



"Rotating snake UFOs"

The inside of each UFO appears to rotate clockwise.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2010 (December 8)



"Rotating snake eggs"

Rings appear to rotate.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2010 (July 16)



"Square rotating snakes"

Each square appears to rotate. In each square, concentric gray square lines appear to be distorted. The Enigma effect and grating induction are also observed.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2010 (January 13)

Including one of Jasmina's images



"Rotating snakes 2010"

Each disk appears to rotate.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2010 (January 19)


Rotating snakes 12

Rotating snakes 11

Rotating snakes 10

Rotating snakes 9

Rotating snakes 8

Rotating snakes 7

Rotating snakes 6

Rotating snakes 5

Rotating snakes 4

Rotating snakes 3

Rotating snakes 2

Rotating snakes 1


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