Blue-yellow combination enhances perceived motion in Rotating Snakes illusion

Abstract

The Rotating Snakes illusion is a visual illusion where a stationary image elicits a compelling sense of anomalous motion. There have been recurring albeit anecdotal claims that the perception of illusory motion is more salient when the image consists of patterns with the combination of blue and yellow; however, there is limited empirical evidence that supports those claims. In the present study, we aimed to assess whether the Rotating Snakes illusion is more salient in its blue-yellow variation, compared to red-green and greyscale variations when the luminance of corresponding elements within the patterns were equated. Using the cancellation method, we found that the velocity required to establish perceptual stationarity was indeed greater for the stimulus composed of patterns with a blue-yellow combination than the other two variants. Our findings provide, for the first time, empirical evidence that the presence of colour affects the magnitude of illusion in the Rotating Snakes illusion.