Optical Wonderful
Motion Illusions
Static images that appear to shift, ripple, or spin, and the way the visual system's motion detectors can be tricked by nothing more than color, contrast, and pattern repetition.
Barber Pole Illusion
The diagonal stripes on a barber's pole appear to travel upward forever, even though they're only ever rotating sideways around a cylinder - a classic case of the visual system solving an ambiguous motion problem badly.
Motion
Motion Aftereffect (Waterfall Illusion)
Stare at flowing water or a spinning pattern for half a minute, then look at something still - and the stationary scene will appear to drift in the opposite direction for a few seconds.
Motion
Peripheral Drift Illusion
A broad category of static repeating patterns that appear to drift or shimmer whenever they sit outside the direct focus of your gaze, thanks to asymmetric brightness gradients.
Motion
Rotating Snakes Illusion
A completely still image built from repeating rings of asymmetric color gradients that appears to writhe and rotate on its own - one of the strongest static-image motion illusions known.
Motion
Spinning Dancer Illusion
A rotating silhouette with no depth cues at all, which different viewers see spinning clockwise or counterclockwise - and can sometimes flip between the two without warning.