A PUZZLING optical illusion has left tens of thousands of social media users questioning their own brains.
A spinning ball optical illusion recently went viral on Twitter, garnering more than 1million views.
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The video, which was shared by the Twitter account @Amazing_Physics, shows an increasing number of small dots moving in a straight line across a red circle.
Shortly after, the dots appear to be moving together in a circular motion clockwise.
However, this is an optical illusion and the truth is that the dots are all only moving in a straight line.
This is nearly impossible for your brain to detect unless you focus on each dot individually.
HOW DOES THIS WORK?
Optical illusions work by tricking our brain – in this case, our mind is tricked into seeing a different motion.
This is likely due to the contrasting colors of the red background, white dots, and black lines.
Because our brain interprets it as a change in motion, it looks like the circles are changing positions.
In reality, however, they are moving in one still direction.
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The positioning of the vertical lines could also be altering our perception of motion.
VIEWER REACTIONS
Since going viral on Twitter, the optical illusion has captured the attention of thousands.
Hundreds of Twitter users commented on the video to share their thoughts on the video.
“It’s our perception of ‘reality’ that’s actually amazing in this case,” one Twitter user commented.
“Nice one, optical illusion. You have to focus on the lines or just one ball – very difficult,” a second person added.
“That was amazing to see. Thank you for the content,” a third Twitter user continued.
