Today, I learned that I have a condition known as Chromostereopsis; it’s a visual illusion where depth is perceived in two-dimentional images/text when presented in certain color combinations. When my friend Aravind Sundaresh uploaded a picture of his culinary creation (akki rotti/rice cake) with red chutney, it triggered my chromatic aberration; to me, the lump of red powder appears to have depth, and seems to leap out of the screen, like in a 3D image. The dark background of the table, and the contrast with the white plate seems to be enough to bring about this effect for me. While I’ve observed this phenomenon in the past, I hadn’t ever researched it, but when I casually mentioned this to my friend Deepa, she was immediately intrigued, looked it up, and told me what it was. This is certainly something to be filed under #todayIlearned.
Chromostereopsis
August 6, 2017