Since Dan Brown’s novels are filled with facts in spite of being fiction; I got the audible version for revision!

In his latest novel called the Secrets of the Secrets; He mentions (Rather she but lets not get specifics since that part is fiction!)

In an attempt to explain the Noetic science; the speaker tells about the famous Hermann grid!

If you have not seen this image yet in the social media it most likely means that you DO NOT have a smart phone!

Google it and see the image and get back to the blog!


So for those who do not have the smart phone lets begin!

The Hermann grid is an optical illusion where viewers perceive grey or dark spots at the intersections of a white grid on a black background. These “ghostlike” spots disappear when you look directly at them because the illusion is caused by the way the human visual system processes light and edges, a phenomenon known as lateral inhibition. The spots are more apparent when viewed from the periphery of the vision, as your eyes are more sensitive to the contrast between the intersection and the surrounding white lines!

The whole phenomenon happens because of sound principles!

One of this is called the Lateral Inhibition in the Retina and Neural processing which happens when light hits your retina, neurons send signals to the brain.

Lateral inhibition occurs when a neuron that is stimulated by light also “inhibits” or dampens the signal from its neighboring neurons.

At the intersections, the white light hits the receptive fields of the neurons and also their neighbors. The neighbors’ inhibitory effect on the central neuron is stronger, which “turns down” the signal from the center. This makes the intersection appear darker!

Along the white lines though in the middle, away from the intersections, the signal from a neuron is not as strongly inhibited by its neighbors, so the line appears brighter!

Finally the illusion is strongest in our peripheral vision because there is a gap between the actual neurons and the points we are looking!

There is no magic in the FACT that the dots appear and reappear! They are always there! We see but only OBSERVE occasionally!

Now if you observe that being old and feeling old is not the same! This is so true in the case of Prof. Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao who retired at the age of 70 then made several contribution in the world of statistics to be awarded the International Prize in Statistics, an award often touted as the “statistics’ equivalent of the Nobel Prize at the age of 102 years!

Sending both the sketch and the Hermann grid for your amusement till you sleep!

SHubh ratri!