A BRAIN-melting optical illusion had netizens going wild over the weekend.
A short animation shows 12 wedge-shaped blocks arranged in a circle that rotates in a constant loop.
But the direction in which the arrangement is going has divided the Internet.
Its orientation seems to change as you look at it, with the left and right sides appearing to be in the foreground.
Look at a face and change direction. Look at another, and he changes.
The illusion was posted on Reddit last week by user Niko22966, and later shared on Twitterwhere it quickly went viral.
Social media denizens were baffled by the animation, which garnered more than 18,000 likes on Twitter and 8,000 upvotes on Reddit.
One Twitter user wrote: “I love how the brain sees it differently depending on where it’s focused.”
And the other one said, “Is he coming or going?” followed by a confused face emoji.
The illusion works by using a bit of animation trickery to make the blocks appear to be going in two directions at once.
Keep your eye on a block at the nine or three o’clock position on the circle. They change shape as they spin.
This gives the illusion of two types of movement.
One Twitter user wrote: “The blocks change shape, giving the illusion that they are changing planes when they are not.”
And one fan on Reddit said: “If you look closely at the ‘sides’ of the circle, you can see segments that change shape. That’s incredibly clever.”
Optical illusions are often just for fun, but they also have real value to scientists.
Brain puzzles help researchers shed light on the inner workings of the mind and how it reacts to the environment.
dr. Gustav Kuhn, a psychologist and expert in human perception at London’s Goldsmiths University, told The Sun last month that illusions are important to our understanding of the brain.
“We tend to take perception for granted and rarely think about the hard work that underpins everyday tasks, like seeing a cup of coffee in front of us,” he said.
“Visual illusions highlight misperceptions and provide important information about the hidden neural processes that allow us to see the world around us.”
It follows last month’s release of a spooky illusion that makes the viewer feel as if they are falling into a black hole.
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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education