'Intense' optical illusion leaves people puzzled

By Mirror | 3yrs ago | 2 min read

A mind-blowing optical illusion has taken the internet by storm - and it has been driving everyone crazy. At first glance, the illusion appears fairly simple, just two squares on a grey background.

The image is split into two sections - a smaller square in the centre and a larger square bordering it - both of which feature the same woven pattern. But if you look closely, you'll notice something very odd about the square in the centre. The baffling picture was originally shared by a Reddit user, who captioned it: "This is not a gif."

Since then, users have been desperately trying to work out how the illusion works - can you? Since it started circulating on the site, it has received 25,000 upvotes and over 450 comments from confused viewers.

One person said: "It's like a portal into another dimension. Very intense." Another said: "Depending on which eye I use, the inside or the outside wiggles! A third added: "Keep your eye in the same spot and just scroll down slowly, and it STILL MOVES."

Another baffled user commented: "I don't feel good." And: "It looks weirder when you scroll," said a fifth. But one person has a theory as to how the illusion has confused us all. They said: "Had to zoom all the way in to figure it out - the centre square is the same pattern as the outer area, but rotated 90. For some reason the shadow pattern being rotated makes the brain go pop."

But this is not the first time an optical illusion has baffled people on the web. An illusion featuring two grey dots on a background that goes in a gradient from light grey to black is just as mind-boggling. Even though the dots appear identical, where they're placed on the background can alter how they look.

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have revealed the science behind the illusion. They explained that the phenomenon relies on brightness estimation taking place before visual information reaches your brain.