(PCM) We can all remember the debate over #TheDress and #TheFlipFlops that drove folks on the internet into knock down drag out arguments over just what color these items happened to appear. The internet has once again graced us with yet another optical illusion thanks to Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a psychology professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.
This time the photo in question is a delicious looking strawberry cake, baked by Kitaoka’s wife that despite being an image made up of only gray-colored pixels, to our minds-eye it appears red, because, well, they are strawberries, of course! There is seriously not one red pixel used in the creation of this particular image.
This image, produced with the alpha blending method, consists of pixels of cyan hue, but strawberries appear to be reddish. この画像の画素はすべてシアン色。 pic.twitter.com/46y6V3VJ3j
— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) March 3, 2017
We only see it in red because our brain automatically corrects colors based on the surrounding ones, so that you’ll be able to judge colors accurately even under unusual lighting. This is the same reason that everyone saw #TheDress and #TheFlipFlops in different colors. It is truly a fascinating phenomena.
Here is a photo of the original cake just for comparison:
The original image of the strawberry cake. My wife made it. pic.twitter.com/RFRpwsDzEQ
— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) March 2, 2017
