When you’re living in a social media age, we’re all too used to manipulated, photo-shopped images going viral online.
But some of the trickiest and most confusing pictures and illustrations out there have existed for centuries.
Optical illusions, perhaps more commonly known today as visual illusions, are images that use artistic, photographic or psychological techniques to play with visual perception – with confusing images causing slippages between the eyes and brain as we try to interpret them.
Writing in scientific journal Trends in Cognitive Science in 1997 the late Professor Richard L. Gregory said: “Visual illusions provide evidence of perceptual processes, especially the use of knowledge about objects and the working rules for seeing.”
Here are 8 visual illusions that will have your eyes – and mind – playing tricks on you.