<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Calibri Light";
panose-1:2 15 3 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
h1
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 1 Char";
margin-top:12.0pt;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
page-break-after:avoid;
font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;
color:#2E74B5;
font-weight:normal;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
span.Heading1Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 1 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 1";
font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;
color:#2E74B5;}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
span.EmailStyle21
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>The <a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com/">Best Illusion of the Year Contest</a>, hosted by the <a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com/about-the-contest/about-the-ncs-2/">Neural Correlate Society</a>, is now an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection (that means YOU!) can <b>vote to pick the Top 3 Winners from the current Top 10 List. </b> <o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>Ten novel illusions, submitted from five different countries, and selected by an international <a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com/about-the-contest/judges/">judge panel</a> from dozens of entries, will compete for first, second, and third placement on June 11<sup>th</sup>-12<sup>th</sup>. The final rankings will be decided by worldwide online voting.<o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The winning illusions will receive a $3,000 award for 1<sup>st</sup> place, a $2,000 award for 2<sup>nd</sup> place, and a $1,000 award for 3<sup>rd</sup> place.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><strong><o:p> </o:p></strong></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>Worldwide voting will take place on the Best Illusion of the Year Contest <a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com">website</a>, <b>from 7pm EST June 11<sup>th</sup> to 7pm EST June 12<sup>th</sup></b>. The Top 10 finalist illusions, listed below, will be publicly revealed at that time! <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=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><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: <a href="mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com"><span style='color:blue'>smart@neuralcorrelate.com</span></a><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><span style='color:#1F497D'><a href="http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com/"><span style='color:blue'>http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>