This viral optical illusion is melting everyone’s minds

Siqi Chen on Twitter says “This may be the strongest optical illusion I’ve ever seen”, and honestly, we have to agree. Take a look for yourself:

This may be the strongest optical illusion I’ve ever seen.pic.twitter.com/J8fCqbQUJ1

— Siqi Chen (@blader) November 22, 2020

At first glance, it appears that the stick figures are moving but once you look a little closer the truth starts to reveal itself: everything in the gif – other than the last figure – remains completely still.

Here’s someone smart to explain what’s actually going on:

if anyone saw this on their TL and was curious about it, it’s called the reverse phi illusion. basically your motion-detecting neurons don’t just detect position changes— they also respond to changes in contrast. can read more about it here https://t.co/isUC9SXQKo https://t.co/CcC0lmh0rB

— Jas🐣n 🛴 (@egg1111115) November 23, 2020

 

If your mind has been blown, then you’re not alone.

This hurts my brain… https://t.co/UL9jhh2wr9

— Chris Graham (@OneCrispyGraham) November 23, 2020

I hate this so much https://t.co/gDTedInsef

— John Regehr (@johnregehr) November 23, 2020

https://twitter.com/arainert/status/1330669807885283337

 

Apologies for any minds that may have been melted.

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