TikTok users have been left baffled by a mind–boggling optical illusion that tricks your brain into distorting celebrity faces into terrifying monsters.
The illusion was shared by magician Pete Firman, who described it as ‘SO weird’.
To try it yourself, first focus your eyes on the cross between the photos of Liv Tyler and Tom Cruise. Keep the photos in your peripheral vision, but stay focused on the cross.
The images will begin to change, first to snaps of Kevin Spacey and Patrick Stewart, and then to Jennifer Lopez and Drew Barrymore.
After a few seconds, something very strange will happen – the faces will start to look disfigured, as if their features are out of proportion.
‘What you’re experiencing is something called the “flashed face distortion effect”,’ Mr Firman explained.
The illusion has garnered huge attention on TikTok, with many users flabbergasted by the effect.
‘What in heaven’s name is my brain doing without my permission!!’ one particularly disturbed user asked in the comments.
TikTok users have been left baffled by a mind–boggling optical illusion that tricks your brain into distorting celebrity faces into terrifying monsters
The flashed face distortion effect is a well–known illusion in which normal human faces are distorted when they flash in the periphery.
‘What’s actually happening is your brain is holding on to previous images, and overlaying those on new ones as they appear in your peripheral vision,’ Mr Firman explained.
‘Because you’re not looking at the photographs directly, your brain is basically try to fill in the blanks.’
If you think the magician is lying, try watching the video again and looking at the faces directly, rather than in your periphery.
‘You’ll see that they’re all legit!’ he added.
Thousands of viewers have flocked to the comments to discuss the illusion – with many admitting that they had to look at the original images to believe it.
‘I stopped halway through to check it wasn’t bulls**t. Mad,’ one user wrote.
Another added: ‘I went back to make sure they weren’t distorted pictures.’
And one admitted: ‘I had to pause to check if what I was seeing was real.’
Other viewers raised concerns about their brains deceiving them.
One said: ‘Shows we construct our own reality in our brain and don’t just observe it!’
Another joked: ‘And I keep trusting my brain with my life.’
And one quipped: ‘So my brain is AI is what your saying.’
The new video comes shortly after scientists uncovered a strange optical illusion that conjures ‘fantastical and monstrous beings’ in your mirror.
In the first study of its kind, Dr Dr Giovanni Caputo, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Urbino, asked 50 volunteers to sit in front of a mirror in a dimly lit, quiet room for 10 minutes and stare at their own reflection.
While the descriptions of their visions varied, 66 per cent said they saw their faces undergoing huge deformations, while many said they saw someone entirely different.
Over a quarter of people said they saw someone they had never met before, while 10 per cent said they saw a deceased parent looking back at them
Perhaps even more surprisingly, 48 per cent said they saw ‘fantastical and monstrous beings’.
WHAT IS THE CAFÉ WALL OPTICAL ILLUSION?
The café wall optical illusion was first described by Richard Gregory, professor of neuropsychology at the University of Bristol, in 1979.
When alternating columns of dark and light tiles are placed out of line vertically, they can create the illusion that the rows of horizontal lines taper at one end.
The effect depends on the presence of a visible line of gray mortar between the tiles.
When alternating columns of dark and light tiles are placed out of line vertically, they can create the illusion that the rows of horizontal lines taper at one end. The effect depends on the presence of a visible line of gray mortar between the tiles
The illusion was first observed when a member of Professor Gregory’s lab noticed an unusual visual effect created by the tiling pattern on the wall of a café at the bottom of St Michael’s Hill in Bristol.
The café, close to the university, was tiled with alternate rows of offset black and white tiles, with visible mortar lines in between.
Diagonal lines are perceived because of the way neurons in the brain interact.
Different types of neurons react to the perception of dark and light colours, and because of the placement of the dark and light tiles, different parts of the grout lines are dimmed or brightened in the retina.
Where there is a brightness contrast across the grout line, a small scale asymmetry occurs whereby half the dark and light tiles move toward each other forming small wedges.
The café wall optical illusion was first described by Richard Gregory, professor of neuropsychology at the University of Bristol, in 1979. The unusual visual effect was noticed in the tiling pattern on the wall of a nearby café. Both are shown in this image
These little wedges are then integrated into long wedges with the brain interpreting the grout line as a sloping line.
Professor Gregory’s findings surrounding the café wall illusion were first published in a 1979 edition of the journal Perception.
The café wall illusion has helped neuropsychologists study the way in which visual information is processed by the brain.
The illusion has also been used in graphic design and art applications, as well as architectural applications.
The effect is also known as the Munsterberg illusion, as it was previously reported in 1897 by Hugo Munsterberg who referred to it as the ‘shifted chequerboard figure.’
It has also been called the ‘illusion of kindergarten patterns’, because it was often seen in the weaving of kindergarten students.
The illusion has been used in graphic design and art applications, as well as architectural applications, like the Port 1010 building in the Docklands region of Melbourne, Australia
