Mysterious Triangle

Here are some information about the mysterious triangle, also called the triangles puzzle. This subject is related to the optical illusions. The brain could be tricked to perceive things that aren't there. Below is an example. It's amazing how the psychology of the mind works. To see other examples check our Brain Tricks main page.

Tips for the mysterious triangle: Observe the triangle on the right. It consists of 4 coloured pieces, and a missing square. Now press the “re-order pieces” button. Three pieces move to another place, the overall shape seems the same, but the square is no longer missing!

Notes: Repeat the re-arrangement of the pieces and have a go at the puzzle. Where is the missing square? What happens here? Be assured that this is no computer trick, it would work just as well with pieces cut from cardboard. In fact, it’s great fun to do so and make a nice puzzle for your dear one(s).

Trick of the Day: The “moon illusion” consists of two phenomena: (1) the moon appears larger than it actually is, and (2) this enlargement is much stronger on the horizon than at the zenith. Generally, any celestial objects near the horizon looks larger than when the same object is high on the sky.
The moon in the neighbouring picture is of “aesthetically correct” size. By placing the mouse over the picture the actual size is seen (pictures from Rock 1984, based on the painting by Honoré Daumier »O Lune! … Inspire-moi ce soir quelque petite pensée…« 1844).
Comment. The moon illusion is usually explained through size constancy, with the necessary additional assumption that the ‘default’ distance for any object is less than the horizon/skyline distance.
Amazingly, when you bend over and look through your legs, the moon illusion is greatly diminished (Coren 1992, Higashiyama & Adachi 2006)! This underscores the influence of context on size constancy. For more tricks of the day check Tricks of the Day.

Other than the mysterious triangle trick, the mind can be fooled in different ways within the subject of the optical illusions. It's no longer accurate to say "what you see is what you get". Now choose a related page, or simply click on previous/ next.