December 5, 2023

What word do you see here?

The word victory painted in white on a pink background

There are actually two words: “victory” in white, and “defeat” in fuchsia. There are a lot of fun examples of this. Here is another good one.

A blue and white photo of the ocean

It spells out both “optical” and “illusion.”

This is a verbal version of the multi-stable perception Gestalt effect seen in the Hidden Animals illusions. Ambiguous objects or drawings, like these, pop unstably between one interpretation and the other. Unfortunately, Gestalt theory only notes that this occurs, but does not provide neurological explanation for why it happens.