Ramachandran - Ames room illusion explained

A clip from "The computer that ate Hollywood" documentary. Dr. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran speaks about brain's built-in perceptive assumptions and tricking the visual system.

[@0prahTV]

An Indian Neil deGrasse Tyson? Now I've seen everything.

[@bnkrmike29]

+0prahTV I present to you, Neel deYash Taayson

[@gumersindok]

lol 😂

[@FrankHarrison12]

At least we eat our cows.

[@heyijustcommented7655]

@@zes3813 we have higher literacy rates than you do

[@JN003]

just for a split second i thiought he was a young neil degrasse tyson.

[@almirfda]

Me too!!!

[@moribund18]

yeah haha i was gonna ask if he was dygrasse but I saw the description

[@v1perry2]

me too

[@DascCrescent]

his R's are fucking glorious

[@stevenleonmusic]

But they never fucking show the actual room from a different angle. I hate this and every other "explanation" it's so frustrating. I'm going to build my own damned trick room and film it from every angle possible.

[@BrazenSolar]

I know right ?that's all I came here for

[@rajdeepkundu3623]

Veritasium's explanation is good...

[@bouchandre]

you can also tRRick the visual system

[@sachininspright]

Yes, so the guy has accented diction. But that’s not the primary value one seeks from him, right?

[@King4sshole89]

I want a room like this in my house!

[@icomputertinker]

Your face has become increasingly sophisticated. Literally. Like, it turned into a jigsaw puzzle.

[@John_Snowbird]

I love perspective tricks like that. Maybe I'm a nit-picker, but I think the left side of the room should be a little farther away...I can see the tipped floor and ceiling a bit.

[@TopFix]

For some reason I can't see this illusion? I mean, I can see that the person on one side appears bigger, but when I look at the room, I can see that it's changed, altered, or structured in a way that the person being bigger makes sense? Hm...

[@BillyAteMySoul]

@TodaSyo I do remember a study of Aborigionies in Australia where they had a hard time seeing things in photographs- even pictures of mountians, because they didn't have practice with strongly foreshortened vision. I can see how if you weren't used to walls you'd see this illusion very differently.

[@kris242]

So if we were born into thinking that walls did not look parallel or not even knowing what a room looks like at all then the room would appear different to our eyes than it does now?

[@Britlurker]

Its built into your brain, you maybe can 'force' yourself to see the the room as it really is. But its not about assumptions, its about hard wiring of the brain.

[@BradenBest]

Did they not just demonstrate it in front of your eyes?

[@TiredKitty11]

whats with the random guy at the end??

[@Totalidiocy]

Yeah. People who live in places where rooms aren't built perfectly rectangular.

[@xenafan970]

Audio cuts out at 1:13.

[@BrotherTree1]

lol when she rolled that ball at 1:08...it gives the illusion away SOO BADLY.

[@Olearius]

I have never seen the Ames room live and have a question with regard to this optical trick: Why does the visual system not detect the different distances through the accommodation? Why does the depth cue of accommodation (eye focussing) not work here? Thank’s in advance for any hint.

[@ztbsk8er]

lol, I'm doing psychology homework right now and I saw this illusion in my book and had to fin it on youtube!

[@MiniCoopers09]

So, its tilted yet we think its straight?

[@felagund23]

people forget that this only works with one eye, if you were to stand there yourself, it would ruin the illusion because of depth perception. you would see that the room is not normal shaped. youd have to clsoe one eye for it to work. so even if tribal people that were not broguht up in houses with paralle walls, they would be fooled if they saw this video, but not if they/we were standing there in person.

[@delirium11]

@TodaSyo , the assumption of the parralel walls is not that strong there, i think.

[@Imsouthy]

So having someone explain the concept and then display this concept to you through the medium of video is not enough. Why did you even comment on this?

[@determinist48]

This is the same principle behind all religions.

[@deeliciousplum]

@mattrmunson Please and that I thank you in advance, are you able to send me a link or the name of the tribe and/or of those who have studied this. i will look for this in the mean time. Yet, I wonder if there have been studies and hypotheses drawn as to why a more isolated community would lack this trait of perceptive assumption. Best wishes.

[@langzeekoei]

Goes to show how stuffed up we are. Technology as well as civilization has messed up our instictive minds.

[@heyijustcommented7655]

0:50 I see.

[@SavethexQueen]

@Wiggyify it's all in the tile pattern :)

[@MaskedManMikeMD]

Peter Jackson showed he used some illusions like this in LOTR.

[@ForzaJad]

i think the lady should join a basket ball team asap...

[@elazulruby]

Watch out we got a badass over here

[@Wiggyify]

the ball remained the same size :)

[@ArtyoneT]

Did they use this in Alice in Wonderland? If they didn't they should have.

[@didyouknowpodcast]

They did.

[@thehobbit95]

@Wiggyify Nah it changed size a tiny bit :P

[@KwiatkowskiStephany]

It is not fake at all. Look for Escher, he created this!

[@lilCtren]

looks like stairs

[@Karlo_m]

one does not have to be original when replying to a comment such as yours

[@Mozzinator38]

badass

[@marianbundel1229]

Crazy

[@iamvegeta2008]

hehe...yup, thats true!

[@VBunin]

обязательно такую себе сделаю:))

[@Robotnik777]

He's from India. Why do you think he accent is a laughing matter?

[@Mobixpl]

yeah state the obvious, no1 needs a study for that

[@PikUpYourPantsPatrol]

I actually thought of this as a kid, the same exact way, I feel so smart ^_^

[@TheAlphaAFFe]

remember the rules, newfriend

[@Karlo_m]

not sure if stupid or trolling

[@EmpressTiffanyOfBrittany]

DDDDDD: LITTLE PEOPLE GROW INTO BIG PEOPLE? NOT IN MY REALITY!

[@ThantosProduction]

WELCOME TO MIND FUCK

[@morbeck]

lol so true

[@SAMARIdude]

WOAH. mindfuck.

[@tomaspagni7970]

mindfuck!!!!

[@fotiniminaki]

ammm

[@pietzeekoe]

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[@enroserie]

@oiramapap

[@azetaguionbajo]

ROFL! Thx

[@OnceUponAnAmy]

His voice is like Obama... with rolling R's

[@spiritro06]

wtf kind of accent is this? mixed to the max lol

[@leonardogalarza9731]

DAFUQ

[@mrbomb1339]

Giraffe!

[@BrotherTree1]

scientifically not explained well enough. zero marks out of three for your explanation for how the room creates the illusion.

[@Viclopez023]

hahaahaahahahahahahahahahah sounds like obama hahhahahhaa

[@saltybishop1319]

No it's not.

[@marinos1977]

@stazzou LOL what's your problem? LOL Where u offended by that? Freak LOL

[@theedwardcunningham]

is that Obama?

[@spizzakk]

fake

[@YenerNL]

Seriously? You believe this is real? Hahaha the man gets 2 sizes bigger

[@xjaskix]

hahah people actually believe this just because some "scientist" says so. pathetic

[@Lazuli_Nox]

Useless.. but WAHOU.

[@anjeu67]

Frodo and Gandalf

[@BrotherTree1]

@lostinaspoonofpeas ahh my friend that is the beauty of an illusion. it always stays consistently strong as it was before, no matter how many times we see it. its always misinterpreted as it constantly differs from objective reality. its a distortion.

[@catapei]

after this explanation i still dont understand this illusion.

[@SB20330]

"a grotesquely deformed trapezoidal room"

[@mattrmunson]

people who grow up in one of the few primitive tribes that still exist in the world do not make this assumption. It has been studied.

[@nalby92]

what if some1 grew up and never saw a room and dosent assume it has parralle (how dafuq is it spelled)

[@spiritro06]

sounds like american english and some of his words have accents still, thats why i think its funny

[@manbot47]

If you're smart enough you use the word deduce instead of deduct.

[@marinos1977]

Rrrrrrrrrrresolve. Trrrrrrrrrrick. Rrrrrrrrroom. lol

[@Totalidiocy]

So, let me get this straight. In the frame at 0:30, you can see that the left side of the room is far bigger than the mind. So, when I look at this room from a peephole, my mind just pretends it never saw that in a "Your feeble human mind cannot comprehend the truth and is adjusting it to a form it can handle" sort a way, and my mind mentally makes the left side of the room small enough to match the right side. Is that it?

[@AdemKae]

...actually if you haven't ever seen this, it is hard to make such an assumption. just like Ram says, its how we know all rooms to be so our brain makes an assumption about it.

[@thecandylover723]

THIS SOUNDS LIKE OBAMA VOICED OVER.

[@ambermistblood3079]

Whether this video portrays something real or not, the concept- the actual illusion isn't fake. Why would it be? Human brains aren't that intelligent, you know. I'm sure an illusion like this wouldn't be too hard to pull off.

[@mcpencil524]

that is one huge woman.

[@Diznyas]

how?? i know my brain is messing with me but how???

[@thecaucasianasian2171]

Does this guy have an American accent or Indian accent? I'm genuinely torn

[@emagdali]

he talks like he's chewing a gum :P

[@button4boy]

how can a video be THIS out of sync! its like 3 whole seconds!

[@salt1nurwound21]

Haha, that is outstanding. Science is such a blast.

[@clorofilaazul]

Yes, he is on TEDtalks

[@MihneaIrimia]

Will it blend? THAT is the question!

[@vincevvn]

Witchcraft!!!

[@AffieKnows]

it will make it smaller too :D

[@JuliusLjungberg]

Those are so cool.

[@MatijaIlievski]

New around here?

[@p1t3n6]

my brain is fucked

[@korpel]

beer pong:P