Mind Your Step or Mind Your Eyes?

This illusion gets me every time. It is so unique to know that our brain sees a cliff, which is depth perception, but in reality it is 2D. So in a way our brain is doing more work then it has to. - Nicole Stewart

I think this illusion is so cool, it gets me every time. It is weird how our eyes can only see 2D but yet our brain allows us to see 3D. Since the chalk is only 2D our brain is technically doing more work than it has to which i find unique.

This illusion definitly utilizes the brain's monocular cues and manipulates them to create a sense of depth. By using pictorial cues such as texture gradient and linear perspective, the artists create an illusion. The artists use texture gradient by detailing the rocks that appear to be closest to us while the ones further away are less apparent. There is also a vanishing point; all the lines begin to converge as they go off in the distance. These two cues create depth but there is one cue the artists didn't account for and that is the relative size cue. It is clear that this is only an illusion because if it were real, the two men would be relatively the same size because they are the same distance away; however, the man who appears to be hanging from the cliff is much bigger which suggests that he is closer to the viewer and that it is only an illusion.