Who hasn’t ever wanted to trick their cat? These balls of fluff can sometimes make life complicated for us (raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten up at 3 in the morning to feed your feline!). So, this man decided to play a harmless joke on his cat.
Discover our latest podcast
A mysterious optical illusion
This illusion is known as the ‘rotating snakes’ illusion. Created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka from Japan, this illusion is made up of coloured circles that look like wound up snakes and although the image is fixed and doesn’t move, it does appear that the circles are moving. This is due to the complex combination of the brightness of the colours and shapes which disturbs and confuses the eyes.
But scientists are still looking to determine the exact mechanism that plays this trick on our brains. This isn’t the first time that optical illusions have been tested on animals. Another internet user has already done a similar experiment on his cat and it also seemed very susceptible.
It also works on humans
There are two different kinds of illusions:
Errors of judgement: These illusions leave us feeling convinced of a certain state of something that doesn’t correspond to reality.
Visual paradoxes: This is the opposite of an error of judgement. They make us doubt or hesitate about the information that our brain receives.
Numerous studies on perception have refined these categories by distinguishing between the limits of the physiological visual system, distortions and even paradoxes. If you’re also a fan of optical illusions, there are lots of videos and images out there that can trick you, and they’re not just limited to pets!
Check out the video above to see for yourself!
