Here are two "ripple waves" like the kind you
would see if you dropped a pebble into a still pond:


The wave on the left has a little cone sticking up into
the air. The wave on the right has volcano-like dent in the middle of
it.
You may be suprised to learn that these two pictures are
identical except for a 180 degree rotation. Almost everyone who looks
at these pictures sees a bump in the one on the left, and a dent on
the one on the right.
This is probably caused by our ordinary experience with
lighting conditions. Generally speaking, we see things lit from above
(by the sun, or an overhead light). If we assume that the light is above
us, we sould expect bumps to appear bright on the front side and dark
on the back side, and vice versa for dents. This leads us to the natural
assumption that the left figure has a bump, and the right figure has
a dent.
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