Visual+Arts+-+Illusions+-+Digital+Harbour



===The Digital Harbor illusion is one that tricks many. The name of the illusion is Cafe Wall but it is formally known as the Munsterburg Illusion. It was first developed in 1897 by a man named Hugo Munsterburg. Richard Gregory, a professor of neurophysiology in the university of Bristol, and a woman named Priscilla Heard were the first people to report this development. The findings were published in 1979 in a newspaper named Perception.=== ===In the year 1979 one of Gregory's lab members observed a visual effect/illusion of a tilling pattern on the wall of a cafe opposite them. The pattern was of repeating rows of white and black tiles with grout/mortar lines in between them.=== ===Hugo referred to his new creation as the shifted checkerboard figure. Though this illusion has two names already it also has a third, the 'illusion of kindergarten patterns'. It is called this because it is often seen in the weaving of kindergarten children.===

One question that is often asked is: How is it an illusion and how does it trick us?
===The illusion is created by uneven rows of black and white tiles that are surrounded by invisible lines. A line of grout is in between each of the tiles and is usually a grey colour. Each tile is uneven and half the width of the tile underneath it, because of this the horizontal lines appear diagonal therefore giving the illusion. The illusion works as well as it does because of small details inserted into the design. The position, colour and width of the tile helps create an effective outcome. If the grout lines were to be removed from the building the illusion would no longer work and it would not serve its purpose.===

[[image:mcscbd2011/musterburg_illusion.jpg width="491" height="367" align="right" caption="Digital Harbour - Courtesy of school camera and taken by Zarreen"]]
===the diagonal lines in an odd way because of the interaction between the two. Different types of neurons observe the dark and light tiles and their placement, then they look at the grout lines and dim or brighten them using the connection with the retina.===

===When there is a brightness difference in many of the grout lines an asymmetry occurs (similar parts face each other) and the dark and light tiles start moving towards and away from each other. In this process the tiles are given the look of wedges. These wedges then grow longer or smaller according to the neurons in the brain. That is how the horizontal lines appear sloped.=== ===Because of the Munsterburg Illusion neuropsychologists have been able to study the visual information that has been processed by the brain. The illusion has also been used in graphic design, art and architecture.===