By: Jonathan O’ Callaghan/IFL Science Do you like optical illusions? Sure you do. And what better way to spend your day than seeing another. Let’s take a look now.
This optical illusion below is particularly trippy. It shows a variant of what’s called the “Café Wall Optical Illusion” and was created by a magician from Atlanta called Victoria Skye.
In the image, the lines might look like they’re at an angle, but they’re actually straight. You can prove this by squinting, or by viewing your phone or monitor from the side.
Using alternating colors and dots, your brain is tricked into thinking the lines aren’t parallel. But, well, they are. Trust us. You can even check it with a ruler to prove it’s true.
“The scientists say that the reason the illusion exists has to do with how the white and black edges interact in opposite directions along the straight edge, tricking the brain into thinking there is a slant in the line,” Skye told IFLScience.
“That’s why, if you blur the image, the effect disappears… because you cannot resolve the tiny white-black interactions once they are blurred, so the brain is no longer led down the garden path.”
According to Wolfram MathWorld, the illusion was first spotted back in 1979 on the wall of a café in Bristol, UK. Since then, it’s been modified in various forms to create the same trick, confusing minds around the world ever since.
If you like this, you can check our some of Skye’s other illusions here.
Terrific optical illusion by Victoria Skye. @RichardWiseman @chriscfrench pic.twitter.com/IeSFupAcfU
— Martin S Taylor (@martinstaylor) August 7, 2017
Thanks for checking out my Illusion. I created it and it still fools me. https://t.co/SOvQsupIw2
— Victoria Skye (@victoria1skye) August 8, 2017
