Optical Illusions: The Ames Room
An optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is characterized by visually perceived images or views that can differ a ton from objective reality. Optical illusions have been around for centuries, teaching us that you shouldn’t fully trust your senses due to that we can easily be tricked. However, optical illusions can help us learn how easy it is to trick our brain to see an object that seems real but is really not. An example of a well-known visual illusion would be the “Ames Room”. An Ames room is a distorted room that is used to create an optical illusion that uses depth and perspective to make it seem like the room is the same when it actually has been manipulated. This illusion is one of the top and most famous optical illusions
that has been used widely in TV shows and movie productions also redone in many museums around the world. This illusion was used in the trilogy Lord of the Rings movies which includes “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), “The Two Towers” (2002), and “The Return of the King” (2003). The Ames room principle was used to make the heights of shorter hobbits better when standing next to the taller Gandalf. Alternatively, this effect really helped the editors make the movie seem more realistic than it would have seemed without the effect. In fact, the movie would have not seem realistic due to the effects that would have been used instead of physical perspective illusions. The Ames room was invented by American ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames, Jr. in 1934. Ames is a well-known scientist who made contributions to physics, physiology, ophthalmology, psychology, and philosophy. Adelbert Ames, Jr. was born in 1880 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Ames is well known for the invention of the “Ames Room” and the “Ames Chair Demonstration”. In 1928, Adelbert Ames while at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, he diagnosed a visual dysfunction called aniseikonia which resulted in the founding of the Dartmouth Eye Institute. Later, in the 1940s and 50s, he developed a great deal of experiments in perceptual psychology, which are now commonly referred to as the Ames demonstrations. These ingenious laboratory setups, which are still commonly cited in psychology textbooks, were highly unusual, and they promoted extended discussions among psychologists, philosophers, educators, and artists.
that has been used widely in TV shows and movie productions also redone in many museums around the world. This illusion was used in the trilogy Lord of the Rings movies which includes “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), “The Two Towers” (2002), and “The Return of the King” (2003). The Ames room principle was used to make the heights of shorter hobbits better when standing next to the taller Gandalf. Alternatively, this effect really helped the editors make the movie seem more realistic than it would have seemed without the effect. In fact, the movie would have not seem realistic due to the effects that would have been used instead of physical perspective illusions. The Ames room was invented by American ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames, Jr. in 1934. Ames is a well-known scientist who made contributions to physics, physiology, ophthalmology, psychology, and philosophy. Adelbert Ames, Jr. was born in 1880 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Ames is well known for the invention of the “Ames Room” and the “Ames Chair Demonstration”. In 1928, Adelbert Ames while at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, he diagnosed a visual dysfunction called aniseikonia which resulted in the founding of the Dartmouth Eye Institute. Later, in the 1940s and 50s, he developed a great deal of experiments in perceptual psychology, which are now commonly referred to as the Ames demonstrations. These ingenious laboratory setups, which are still commonly cited in psychology textbooks, were highly unusual, and they promoted extended discussions among psychologists, philosophers, educators, and artists.