4 ms·

Staring at the circles had a very odd mental effect for me. After playing a few rounds other websites I look at seems very square, straight, and ridged.

L_Rahman 12y ago
Echoing this sentiment. Closing out of the game and returning to my browser had me wondering if Chrome had updated to a new theme with harder edges
- leovander 12y ago
  Not just chrome, my whole Yosemite environment seems so sharp.
- doorhammer 12y ago
  I immediately though "Man, has hacker news always been so angular? Wonder if styling changed... my task bar seems harder too... wat" Really interesting effect
Kronopath 12y ago
This is the second time I've ever felt this effect. The first time was with the 2048 variant Hexagon 16384 [0]. I'm starting to suspect that it's something having to do with spending a long time staring at a set of regular circles. I wish I knew a neuroscientist so I could ask them about this effect. [0] http://rudradevbasak.github.io/16384_hex/ http://rudradevbasak.github.io/16384_hex/ with HN discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7437009 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7437009 and my comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7443465 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7443465
d4n3 12y ago
Wow, that was exactly what happened to me... Everything is so sharp and square here.
soperj 12y ago
Didn't even realize that this might be the issue. I thought something got updated.
EpicDavi 12y ago
Wow, thanks for pointing this out to me. I thought my phone had updated or something because everything looked so blocky... I had my friend check out my phone and he didn't see anything different. I thought I was going insane :(
ZeroFries 12y ago
I imagine it's along the same lines as when everything looks blue after you take off pink ski goggles. I read a study where people wearing glasses that flipped everything upside down would eventually start to see normally, and then after taking the goggles off had upside down vision for a while. This seems to suggest that your brain has an intrinsic expectation of what the world should look like, either built in by evolution or from year of experiencing the world a certain way. I wonder what sorts of things are filtered from our perception because they don't correspond with the brain's expectation of reality.
- wingerlang 12y ago
  I could be wrong, I can't remember fully. But if I recall correctly they don't start to see normally, i.e. the right rotation, they simply adjusted well to the upside down view.
- leppr 12y ago
  The game trains you to see circles as squares. You're looking at circles but they really act like squares so when you go back to reality it's like you forgot squares existed because the whole concept of square is made obsolete in the game's world. I'm really surprised this works so well, it really shows how plastic and manipulable our brains are. This could become a reference example on perception or an analogy for higher level perception-shaping.
mrkickling 12y ago
I also had this effect, my macbook keyboard don't look like it used to..

L_Rahman 12y ago

Echoing this sentiment. Closing out of the game and returning to my browser had me wondering if Chrome had updated to a new theme with harder edges

leovander 12y ago
Not just chrome, my whole Yosemite environment seems so sharp.
doorhammer 12y ago
I immediately though "Man, has hacker news always been so angular? Wonder if styling changed... my task bar seems harder too... wat" Really interesting effect

Kronopath 12y ago

This is the second time I've ever felt this effect. The first time was with the 2048 variant Hexagon 16384 [0]. I'm starting to suspect that it's something having to do with spending a long time staring at a set of regular circles. I wish I knew a neuroscientist so I could ask them about this effect. [0] http://rudradevbasak.github.io/16384_hex/ http://rudradevbasak.github.io/16384_hex/ with HN discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7437009 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7437009 and my comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7443465 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7443465

d4n3 12y ago

Wow, that was exactly what happened to me... Everything is so sharp and square here.

soperj 12y ago

Didn't even realize that this might be the issue. I thought something got updated.

EpicDavi 12y ago

Wow, thanks for pointing this out to me. I thought my phone had updated or something because everything looked so blocky... I had my friend check out my phone and he didn't see anything different. I thought I was going insane :(

ZeroFries 12y ago

I imagine it's along the same lines as when everything looks blue after you take off pink ski goggles. I read a study where people wearing glasses that flipped everything upside down would eventually start to see normally, and then after taking the goggles off had upside down vision for a while. This seems to suggest that your brain has an intrinsic expectation of what the world should look like, either built in by evolution or from year of experiencing the world a certain way. I wonder what sorts of things are filtered from our perception because they don't correspond with the brain's expectation of reality.

wingerlang 12y ago
I could be wrong, I can't remember fully. But if I recall correctly they don't start to see normally, i.e. the right rotation, they simply adjusted well to the upside down view.
leppr 12y ago
The game trains you to see circles as squares. You're looking at circles but they really act like squares so when you go back to reality it's like you forgot squares existed because the whole concept of square is made obsolete in the game's world. I'm really surprised this works so well, it really shows how plastic and manipulable our brains are. This could become a reference example on perception or an analogy for higher level perception-shaping.

mrkickling 12y ago

I also had this effect, my macbook keyboard don't look like it used to..