Images and videos can also easily fool us through optical illusions. Famous examples include the Hermann Grid Illusion and the Zöllner Illusion. In the Hermann Grid Illusion, white dots at the center of squares appear to shift from white to gray. When a viewer focuses on one dot, it clearly looks white. But as soon as you shift your eyes away, the dots begin to look gray. Researchers have proposed several explanations for this phenomenon, including lateral inhibition, or the idea that “neurons that are firing inhibit the stimulation of surrounding” neurons. But no one can be 100% sure; optical illusions are still a bit of a mystery.
When it comes to the Zöllner Illusion, a series of parallel lines appear crooked due to short lines that overlap them. The principle here is that “the background of an image can distort the appearance of straight lines”, but the explanation is not concrete for this image either. This optical illusion is possibly due to our brains attempting to widen the angles between the long and short lines, or perhaps the lines are creating an impression of depth. Either way, staring at this one for too long will definitely give you a headache.
Meta Visions makes no attempts to manipulate or deceive followers, but the images it posts are sometimes too confusing to explain. We hope you enjoy the rest of this bizarre list; don’t forget to upvote all of your favorite peculiar photos and let us know in the comments which inexplicable pic spoke to you the most. If you’d like to see even more of these weird images, be sure to follow Meta Visions on Instagram right here.
