So, are the squares marked "A" and "B" the same colour? Not bloody likely, eh? Actually, they are. Okay, look again. Still not convinced? Neither was I, so here's what I did. I right-clicked on the image on the website where I had found it and selected "Copy Image". Then, I launched Paint.Net (you can use any graphics program (such as MS-Paint) that has a "colour picker" tool) and pasted the image.
Next, I used the colour picker to select the colour of the square marked "A". I selected the paintbrush tool (any function that will "write" will do) and made a swatch on the white area of the image.
I repeated the above for the square marked "B" and lo and behold, the two swatches are exactly the same colour.
The reason for this optical illusion is the shadow cast by the cylindrical figure in the image. Even knowing this, our eyes are so completely fooled that the squares still appear to be very different colours. This is one of the best illusions I've ever seen.
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