BULGING SOUARES What to do? Observe how the black and white grid appears to bulge outwards in a circular form, even though it is made entirely out of squares. What’s going on? The black square in the middle represents the point that appears to be the closest to your eyes. The arrangement of the dots, as well as the contrast between the edge and the aligned lines segment, is crucial for the illusion to occur. This visual illusion was discovered by Japanese psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka.