Here are 9 of the best optical illusions to mess with your mind

Jamie Jones. Updated December 7th, 2020

Who doesn’t love a good optical illusion? They’re the quickest and safest way to mess with your minds, and all from the comfort of your own home.

Below we’ve rounded up some of the best illusions we’ve encountered over on Twitter. Enjoy.

1. Other than the one at the end, all of the figures remain still in this image and are simply changing colour:

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

— Siqi Chen (@blader) November 22, 2020

2. Beleive it or not, all of the horizontal lines are straight and completely parallel in this image:

Terrific optical illusion by Victoria Skye. @RichardWiseman @chriscfrench pic.twitter.com/IeSFupAcfU

— Martin S Taylor (@martinstaylor) August 7, 2017

3. This one may take a while, but once you spot the circles in the image it’s difficult to unsee them:

This is called the ‘Coffer Illusion’.
In the image there are 16 circles. Can you see them?

The illusion works because of our brain's tendency to want to see closed shapes, and because of its interpretation of the vertical versus the horizontal stripes. pic.twitter.com/oCmVqDCWkh

— Bernie'sTweets (@berniespofforth) April 19, 2020

4. Start by looking at the dancer in the middle:

The Spinning Dancer is a kinetic, bistable optical illusion resembling a pirouetting female dancer. If you look at the left image, all 3 dancers will rotate clockwise. But if you look at the right image, all 3 dancers will rotate counterclockwise https://t.co/Db7DwTnvUB pic.twitter.com/JYb8WW9wXy

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 30, 2018

5. Another classic example of how changing colours make static shapes appear to be moving:

The perptual diamond: The diamond remains fixed in one place but appears to move up, down, left, or, right. See how far away you can be from your screen before the effect goes away. From https://t.co/XRFKTtjOfm pic.twitter.com/af7BOUCvfC

— Arthur Shapiro (@agshapiro2) June 2, 2019

6. This illusion plays with our perception of colour:

All the balls are the same color — and that color is *brown*! pic.twitter.com/JriPXHnNYR

— Chaz Firestone (@chazfirestone) June 14, 2019

7. A headache-inducing image that constantly seems to be changing before your very eyes:

There are 12 black dots on this image, but your brain won't let you see them all at once. pic.twitter.com/xmYBDrrbtL

— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) May 26, 2018

8. The circles in this graphic remain in the same position and at the same size throughout:

矢印の方向に動いて見えますね～？
人間の脳は単純なので矢印で惑わされてしまうのでーす pic.twitter.com/lUPySup2du

— じゃがりきん (@jagarikin) November 25, 2020

9. And finally, this award-winning illusion will leave you mistified:

Is it rotating vertically or horizontally? Clockwise or counterclockwise? This optical illusion created by game developer & artist Frank Force features a moving shape that seemingly shifts each way and won the 2019 contest for the Best Illusion of the Year https://t.co/P0MhB2njrk pic.twitter.com/Kkqce2C2Kw

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 17, 2019