Optical Illusions That Will Make Your Brain Hurt (Part 1)

Before jumping on in we have one question on our minds: what is an optical illusion?

What is an optical illusion?

Optical illusions are visuals that tend to be deceptive to the eye and brain. This is based on numerous factors including varying colors, patterns, lights, and more! When looking at these images what we see gets sent to our brains, and a false perception is created as the image our brain processes isn’t actually what is in front of us. Different people will often see these illusions differently which is completely normal since everyone’s brain works in different ways—talk about perspective!

Do you think you have what it takes to figure out these optical illusions? There are so many types of illusions and we’ve rounded up the best of famous illusions, color illusions, pattern illusions, illusory motion illusions, and literal illusions. Scroll on down to see these illusions in their respective categories and put your mind to the test!

Famous illusions

1. Cafe wall illusion

Barsukov Vladimir/shutterstock

These lines appear to be angled up or down, but the horizontal lines are actually all parallel. Need proof? Try covering the top and bottom of one line of squares with a piece of paper. No slants to be found!

2. Muller-Lyer illusion

Which horizontal line is shorter: the top or the bottom? Trick question—they’re the same size, even though your mind perceives the one with outward wings to be longer. 

3. Zöllner illusion

Courtesy Lenstore

Are these long diagonal lines parallel? They sure don’t look it, but they are! Removing the smaller “stitch”-like lines shows the truth about this optical illusion.

4. Scintillating grid illusion

©mark/shutterstock

An oldie but goodie, you may have seen the scintillating grid illusion before! Your brain thinks there’s a black dot inside each white circle—until you focus on each individual white circle. Then you realize it was never there at all.