Even though the teeth are moving from side to side in a wave-like motion, your finger will feel as if a raised dot is traveling up and down the comb. “Take an ordinary comb and pencil and lay your index finger along the top of the comb, then run the pencil back and forth along the side of the teeth. This illusion directly from New Scientist shows you one way you can fool them! As such, it’s relatively easy to trick them. Our fingertips are exceptionally sensitive. Because the ball or Blu Tack touches the outside of both fingers at the same time – something that very rarely happens – your brain interprets it as two separate objects. In this illusion the brain has failed to process the fact that you have crossed your fingers. You can also achieve the same effect if you touch your nose! It will feel like you are touching two balls of Blu Tack and not one. Next, touch a small spherical object such as a rolled up piece of blu-tac. One of the oldest tactile illusions is the Aristotle illusion - it’s also one of the most simple.įirst, cross your forefinger and index finger. Here are three more you can try at home! 1. Even in situations where the brain processes ‘multisensory information’ - for example, when you hear the screech of tires as you see a car stop - vision tends to dominate.īut The Rubber Hand Illusion is just one trick. In fact, most of the back of our brain is devoted to visual processing and around half of the cortex is involved with sight. The illusion is so compelling partly because of the priority our brains give to our sense of sight. By mixing up the signals from two different senses – sight and touch - we can trick our minds to believe that the fake hand is our own.