![i don know but i think love is kind i don know but i think love is kind](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Qn6Q4YjJL._AC_SY780_.jpg)
The neural underpinnings of this effect are not yet understood. This effect is called neon color spreading, because it resembles the effect of the light spreading from a neon lamp. Any differences that you see are all in your mind.
![i don know but i think love is kind i don know but i think love is kind](https://nextnature.net/media/pages/magazine/story/2020/how-my-chatbot-fell-in-love-with-me/11e531e6e6-1602632757/2.png)
![i don know but i think love is kind i don know but i think love is kind](http://img.picturequotes.com/2/945/944351/i-knowand-i-love-you-but-i-dont-think-we-love-each-other-in-the-same-way-andi-think-keeping-you-quote-1.jpg)
Actually all the yellow fields in the figure are identical. Notice that the yellow fields inside the heart seem paler than the fields forming the contour of the heart, which appear to be a darker shade of yellow-orange. Notice that if you focus your gaze on a single point, the illusory motion slows or stops. This neural activation leads to the perception of illusory motion. When your eyes move, they shift the retinal images of the black-and-white edges in the pattern, activating the motion-sensitive neurons in your visual cortex. In this illusion, the heart appears to move and even pulsate as you look around the image. Your wandering eyes pull at your lover's heartstrings. The brain deals with this sensory aberration by imagining depth-the red heart is in front of the blue background, and vice versa-even though none actually exists. When both eyes view the red and blue images simultaneously, the cornea and lens of the eyes refract different amounts of the colors. This phenomenon is called chromatic aberration another example of this effect is seeing a rainbow when you shine white light through a prism.
![i don know but i think love is kind i don know but i think love is kind](http://owk.zln.cz/guestgalleries/maxima/img/05.jpg)
This illusion comes about because the lenses in our eyes refract blue light more than red. Most people find that the red heart pops in front of the blue background, whereas the blue heart sinks beneath the red background. Look at the red and blue hearts and examine their depth with respect to the background. Nothing is more romantic than curling up in front of a fire with your loved one on Valentine's Day as you lovingly whisper “chromostereopsis.” Okay, maybe it's not as passionate as a sonnet-unless you are a vision scientist. And remember, even if love is an illusion, that doesn't mean it's not meaningful and real (to our brains, anyway). We hope that you and your special one will enjoy them. In this article, we feature a number of visual illusions with a romantic motif. Losing someone you love is like going through withdrawal. But the conclusions are probably true for humans, too, which may explain why it is so hard to break up a long-term romantic relationship. Their study was conducted in the prairie vole, a small rodent that mates for life. For instance, neuroscientist Thomas Insel and his colleagues at Emory University discovered that monogamous pair bonding has its basis in the same brain reward circuits that are responsible for addiction to drugs such as cocaine and heroin. In fact, some scientists even see love as a kind of addiction. (Unfortunately, Hallmark has no plans to mass-produce arrow-pierced chocolate brains in the near future.) By better understanding how the brain falls in love, we can learn about why the brain can get so obsessed with this powerful emotion. But what is true love? Does it exist? Or is it simply a cognitive illusion, a trick of the mind?Ĭontrary to the anatomy referenced in all our favorite love songs, love (as with every other emotion we feel) is not rooted in the heart, but in the brain. On Valentine's Day, everywhere you look there are heart-shaped balloons, pink greeting cards and candy boxes filled with chocolate.