Mind-Bending Spatial Optical Illusions That Show How Line Lengths Seem to Vary With Use of End Arrows

Muller Lyer Zig Zag

Gianni Sarcone (previously) is a creator of immersive visual experiences who won third prize in the 2017 Optical Illusion Contest with his brilliant “Dynamic Müller Lyer Illusion”, which demonstrated how line lengths appear to lengthen or shorten due to movement of arrows placed at the end of the lines.

Müller-Lyer’s illusion proves that a segment can visually appear longer or shorter depending on the sense of the arrow heads at its ends. In what consists of my variant? As shown in the animation, the red dot in the middle of the line is equidistant from the other two red dots, although the ends of the line visually appear to alternately stretch and shrink like a rubber band!

Sarcone also created a couple of mind-bending variants from the original, one showing how lines and arrows behave in a circle and another showing how they behave in a sinusoidal zig-zag pattern.

Muller Lyer Circular

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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