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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>The <a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com/">Best Illusion of the Year Contest</a> is happy to announce <strong>the TOP TEN illusions of 2015</strong>!<o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>The Best Illusion of the Year Contest is now an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection can participate! No matter where you live, you will be able to vote for the TOP THREE winners from the current TOP TEN list! <o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in'><b>Worldwide voting will take place in June</b> – stay tuned for further information about the voting date and instructions!<o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>All TOP TEN finalists will receive a commemorative plaque. In addition, the TOP THREE winners will receive a $3,000 award for first place; a $2,000 award for second place, and a $1,000 award for third place.<o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><strong><o:p> </o:p></strong></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><strong>2015 TOP TEN ILLUSION CONTESTANTS</strong> (alphabetical order by first author):<o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Masashi Atarashi: “Snow Blind Illusion”. Physics teacher at Aichi Prefectural Gojo Senior High School (Japan) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Luke Bashford and Carsten Mehring: “The third hand illusion”. Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg (Germany)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Marco Bertamini and Nicola Bruno: “The Honeycomb Illusion”. University of Liverpool (UK)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Christopher Blair, Lars Strother, and Gideon Caplovitz: “The Wandering Circles”. University of Nevada, Reno (USA)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Nicolas Davidenko: ”Motion Pareidolia”. University of California, Santa Cruz (USA)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Rosa Lafer-Sousa: ”Disambiguating #theDress”. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Michael Pickard: “The Day it Rained on Lowry”. VisuallyDirectedDesign.com (UK)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Arthur Shapiro: “The Star Wars Scroll Illusion”. American University (USA)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Kokichi Sugihara” “Ambiguous Garage Roof”. Meiji University (Japan)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Mark Vergeer: “Splitting Colors”. KU Leuven (Belgium) <b><u><o:p></o:p></u></b></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>On behalf of the Executive Board of the Neural Correlate Society:<br>Jose-Manuel Alonso, Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Luis Martinez, Xoana Troncoso, Peter Tse<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The Neural Correlate Society is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote the public awareness of neuroscience research.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>-----------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Director, Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Scholar, Empire Innovator Program<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>State University of New York (SUNY)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Downstate Medical Center<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn NY 11203, USA<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Email: </span><a href="mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com">smart@neuralcorrelate.com</a><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Phone: +1 718-270-4520<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com/">http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>