A little science experiment

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Okay, not really. But look at the 3 squares below. 2 of the squares are two slightly different shades of red, the other square is animated and alternates between the other two shades. Can you tell the shades apart and spot the square that alternates? or does it just look like 3 identical squares? I suppose this is going to depend on your monitor to a certain extent. Like I say, it's not really a 'proper' experiment, it's just something that was being talked about on another board.

[SiHart]

No matter how hard I stare, I just see them as three identical squares.

Si xx

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I swear this isn't some clever psychology experiment where I present three identical squares and get people to say "ooh yes I can tell them apart". There genuinely are 3 different squares.

[Dirk Gently]

It looks like the outside ones are slightly different & the one in the middle morphs between the two.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

The answer...

the left-most square is slightly redder (or less blue) than the one in the middle. Th square on the far right is the one that alternates.

These are actually two different shades of lipstick which someone has argued are indistinguishable to the human eye. However, several people (including myself), claim that they are perfectly distinguishable as seperate colours. I just made this little gif as a test, but unfortunately I know the answer so I can't be objective.

[Jason Thompson]

Not having looked at the answer, I can distinctly see that the left and centre squares are the two different shades (the one in the middle looks slightly more pinkinsh to me) while the right hand square is the animated one.

Now having checked the answer I see I was right. You might want to point out to the person who argues they are indistinguishable to the human eye that there is no such thing as a generic human eye when it comes to colour perception. I can clearly see them as different colours. Others may not. My father would see them both as grey/green. He once looked at Mars through a telescope and declared that the famous red planet looked green to him. Colour perception differs between people.

And don't even get into synaesthesia....

[Si Hunt]

For me, the two on the right are deeper red and the one on the left is lighter. Which shows how much I know.

I've got something similar. Two of the below pop stars are incapable of having a hit. Can you identify them?



No, this time it IS a psychology test. There are no hits to be had here at all.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

I thought it was the middle one.

[Antony Cox]

Whoever that bloke is, he should get a haircut.