Computational Neuroscience: [Comp-neuro] call for illusion submissions: the world's 8th annual Best illusion of the Year Contest

****CALL FOR ILLUSION SUBMISSIONS: THE WORLD’S 8TH ANNUAL BEST ILLUSION OF THE YEAR CONTEST****

http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com

*** We are happy to announce the world's 8th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest!!***
Submissions are now welcome!

The 2012 contest will be held in Naples, Florida (Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts, http://www.thephil.org/) on Monday, May 14th, 2012, as an official satellite of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) conference. The Naples Philharmonic Center is an 8-minute walk from the main VSS headquarters hotel in Naples, and is thus central to the VSS conference.

Past contests have been highly successful in drawing public attention to perceptual research, with over ***FIVE MILLION*** website hits from viewers all over the world, as well as hundreds of international media stories. The First, Second and Third Prize winners at the 2011 contest were Jordan Suchow and George Alvarez (Harvard University, USA), Erica Dixon, Arthur Shapiro & Kai Hamburger (American University, USA, & Universität Giessen, Germany), and Mark Wexler (Université Paris V, France).

To see the illusions, photo galleries and other highlights from the 2011 and previous contests, go to http://illusionoftheyear.com.

Eligible submissions are novel perceptual or cognitive illusions (unpublished, or published no earlier than 2011) of all sensory modalities (visual, auditory, etc.) in standard image, movie or html formats. Exciting new variants of classic or known illusions are admissible. An international panel of impartial judges will rate the submissions and narrow them to the TOP TEN. Then, at the Contest Gala in Naples, the TOP TEN illusionists will present their contributions and the attendees of the event (that means you!) will vote to pick the TOP THREE WINNERS!

Illusions submitted to previous editions of the contest can be re-submitted to the 2012 contest, so long as they meet the above requirements and were not among the TOP THREE winners in previous years. Submissions will be held in strict confidence by the panel of judges and the authors/creators will retain full copyright. The TOP TEN illusions will be posted on the illusion contest's website *after* the Contest Gala. Illusions not chosen among the TOP TEN will not be disclosed. As with submitting your work to any scientific conference, participating in to the Best Illusion of the Year Contest does not preclude you from also submitting your work for publication elsewhere.

Submissions can be made to Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde (Illusion Contest Executive Producer, Neural Correlate Society) via email (smart@neuralcorrelate.com) until February 14, 2012. Illusion submissions should come with a (no more than) one-page description of the illusion and its theoretical underpinnings (if known). Illusions will be rated according to:

. Significance to our understanding of the mind and brain
. Simplicity of the description
. Sheer beauty
. Counterintuitive quality
. Spectacularity

Visit the illusion contest website for further information and to see last year's illusions: http://illusionoftheyear.com.

Submit your ideas now and take home this prestigious award!

On behalf of the Executive Board of the Neural Correlate Society:
Jose-Manuel Alonso, Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Luis Martinez, Xoana Troncoso, Peter Tse

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Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD

Executive Producer, Best Illusion of the Year Contest

President, Neural Correlate Society

Columnist, Scientific American Mind

Author, Sleights of Mind

Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience

Division of Neurobiology

Barrow Neurological Institute

350 W. Thomas Rd

Phoenix AZ 85013, USA

Phone: +1 (602) 406-3484