Fraser Spiral

The Fraser spiral, also called false spiral and twisted cord illusion is a shape distortion visual illusion first discovered in 1908 by the British psychologist James Fraser. The image appears to be a spiral, while in reality it is a series of concentric circles. The illusion is triggered by mixing regular figures (the concentric circles) with the staggered, alternating black and white stripes (the checkered background magnifies the effect).

The same principle is used by the Café Wall illusion and by the Zollner illusion, with slight modifications.

Fraser's Spiral: even though it seems a regular spiral, it consists of concentric circles

Fraser's Spiral: even though it seems a regular spiral, it consists of concentric circles



Color Perception
Benham's Top
Bezold Effect
Chubb Illusion
Cornsweet Illusion
Mach Bands
McCollough Effect
Scintillating Grid
Depth Perception
Ames Room
Hollow Face Illusion
Illusory Contours
Kanizsa Triangle
Impossible Objects
Blivet
Left-Right Brain
Motion Perception
Barberpole Illusion
Flash lag illusion
Lilac Chaser
Shape Distortion
Ames Window
Café Wall Illusion
Ebbinghaus illusion
Ehrenstein illusion
Fraser spiral
Hering Illusion
Jastrow Illusion
Leaning Tower Illusion
Müller-Lyer Illusion

'A pleasant illusion is better than a harsh reality'
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