Hey there! Have you ever seen a picture of outer space? Scientists use special tools called telescopes to take real photos of stars far away. But once, someone shared a picture online saying it was a star, and it turned out to be a slice of meat! Many people were tricked by this fake star photo. Could you tell it wasn’t real?
Let’s talk about something called optical illusions. These are pictures that play tricks on our eyes and brains. Jason has a question about them. Let’s find out more!
Jason asked, “How do optical illusions trick us?” Great question! Optical illusions are images that can confuse us. I’m going to show you one now. Look at this drawing and think about what animal you see. Don’t say it out loud, just think. Do you see a dog? Or maybe a bird? It could be both!
Why can people see different animals in the same drawing? Well, it has to do with how we see. An artist draws a few simple lines, and your eyes see those lines. Then, your brain tries to figure out what they mean. With just a few lines and colors, your brain makes a guess. Sometimes, there can be more than one good guess!
Remember the fake star picture? It fooled people because the background was plain black. If it had a different background, people might not have been tricked.
Here’s another optical illusion with more details. It’s an elephant! But wait, something’s strange. Count the elephant’s feet. One, two, three, four, five feet? That can’t be right! Your eyes see the parts, but your brain gets confused. These legs are impossible in real life!
Now, look at this upside-down photo. It’s a picture of me! Let’s turn it over. Whoa, did you notice the mouth and eyes were flipped? Your brain might not have noticed at first. What you think you see can be different from what’s really there.
Optical illusions trick us because we don’t just see with our eyes. Our brains help us understand what we see. Sometimes, our brains get confused or make guesses that aren’t quite right.
There are many more optical illusions to explore. Scientists study them to learn how our eyes and brains work together. You might find some illusions don’t trick you, and that’s what makes them so interesting!
Thanks for joining us to learn about optical illusions! There are many mysteries around us. Stay curious and keep exploring. See you next time!
Create Your Own Optical Illusion: Gather some paper, pencils, and crayons. Try drawing your own optical illusion! Start with simple shapes and lines. Can you make a picture that looks like two different things? Show your drawing to a friend or family member and see what they see. Discuss how their interpretation might differ from yours.
Optical Illusion Hunt: Go on a hunt around your home or school to find real-life optical illusions. Look for patterns or objects that might look different from various angles or distances. Take photos or draw what you find. Share your discoveries with your class and talk about why they might be considered optical illusions.
Think and Share: Discuss with a partner or write about a time when you saw something that wasn’t what it seemed. How did your brain trick you? Why do you think it happened? Share your story with the class and listen to others’ experiences. This will help you understand how common optical illusions are in everyday life.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(phone chirping) – Hi, it’s Jay. Have you ever seen a picture of outer space? These are real photographs of distant stars captured by scientists using telescopes. A few years ago, someone posted a picture online claiming it was a photo of a star, but it turned out to be a trick. Later, they revealed that the picture was actually a slice of meat. This fake star photo fooled many people. Could you tell it wasn’t real?
Someone named Jason has a question about tricky pictures. Let’s give Jason a call now. (phone chirping) – Hi, Jay. – Hi, Jason. – I have a question for you. How do optical illusions trick us? – That’s a great question. Just like Jason said, optical illusions are images designed to trick or confuse us. In a moment, I’m going to show you an optical illusion. It’s a drawing. I’m curious what animal you see, but don’t say it out loud. Just think it. Here it is. Think but don’t say what animal you see. Got your animal? Okay. I wonder if some of you see a dog. Here’s the dog’s nose and its ear over here. It looks kind of like this photo. Then again, maybe you see a different animal. Do some of you see a bird? Its beak is here, and it’s sitting on a branch, like this photo. So which is it? A dog or a bird? Well, I guess it’s both.
Why is it that people can look at the same drawing and see two different animals? Before I continue, I’m curious, did you see one animal first? Why do you think you saw that? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, you ready? Now, the truth is we don’t know for sure why some people see a dog and others see a bird. But we do know why the same drawing can look like different animals, and it has to do with how we see. Take a look. This is an artist drawing the picture I just showed. They sketch a few simple lines. You use your eyes to see those lines, and they send that information to your brain. Then your brain needs to make sense of what you’re seeing.
Now, I asked you what animal you see, but there aren’t a lot of details here. It’s only a few lines and a little color. Your brain tries to match that to an animal and then makes a guess. It’s a good guess, but it turns out there’s more than one good guess for this drawing. If this drawing had more details, maybe we’d end up guessing the same animal. Like what if it had a tree background? You might be more likely to see a bird now.
It reminds me of that fake star picture. One of the reasons people were fooled is that the photo’s background is plain black. If they saw it with a different background, I doubt they would have been tricked.
I want to show you another optical illusion. This one has more details, so I think we can agree on what animal it is. An elephant. I wonder if you notice something strange, though. Check out the elephant’s legs. If I count the feet, it has one, two, three, four, five feet? That can’t be right. Let’s count the legs. If I start up here, I count one, and here’s two. But wait, there’s no foot on this leg. And look at this leg. No foot here either. How do all these feet connect to the body? Your eyes may see the parts of this elephant, but your brain has a hard time making sense of them.
You’ve probably seen an elephant’s legs before and lots of other things with legs, but these legs are confusing. They can exist in a drawing, but they are impossible in real life.
I have one last optical illusion for you, and this one is a photograph. Even though it’s upside down, you may be able to tell that it’s a picture of me. Let’s turn it over. Whoa, look at that. Could you tell the mouth and the eyes were flipped around? Your brain may not have noticed at first. Even though your eyes could see those flipped-over parts the entire time. What you think you see turns out to be different from what’s really there.
So in summary, optical illusions are able to trick us because you don’t just see with your eyes. You need your brain to make sense of what you see. And when your brain tries to make sense of an optical illusion, it ends up confused or makes a guess or sometimes gets things wrong.
There are many more optical illusions to explore and lots of cool science to uncover about how they trick us. You may even discover that some optical illusions don’t trick you, and that’s what makes them so interesting to scientists. By exploring how different people experience optical illusions, scientists can better understand all the ways that eyes and brains work together and how brains make sense of the world.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Jason, for asking. Now we’ll be back with a new episode in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, here are some older questions from the question jar. You can vote on which one you think we should send out next week. You can choose from, “Who created the constellations?” “How are pencils made?” or “Why is the ocean salty?” So submit your vote when the video’s over. We want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious and see you next week.
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This version maintains the essence of the original transcript while ensuring clarity and appropriateness.
