My brain hurts

Optical illusions harness the shift between what your eyes see and what your brain perceives. They reveal the way your visual system edits images before you’re even made aware of them like a personal assistant, deciding what is and isn’t worthy of your attention.Here are a few images that will test your brain..the mind boggles!

See the pattern moving?

Nothing is moving here. Promise.

There’s no solid explanation for illusory motion. Some visual scientists think it has to do with fixation jitter: involuntary eye movements that give the illusion that objects near what you’re fixated on are moving. Others think that when you glance around the image, motion detectors in your visual cortex get “confused” by dynamical changes in neurons, and think you’re seeing movements.

That probably exercised a few neurons that don’t get to do much work!

Our brains are built in a way that allows us to make assumptions about what we are perceiving. Cognitive shortcuts explain some of the reasons for optical illusions. It also proves that we cannot always believe what we see and that we should definitely not always believe what we think.

Mandy X

Photo by PinkPersimon

Author: Mandy Kloppers

Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.