Look at the picture below…
Can you tell which popsicle is real? It’s kind of hard isn’t it? But in fact, one is an actual popsicle while the other is just a really good drawing.
The reason it’s hard to tell is that our brain likes to take shortcuts. It will “fill in” details, based on what it thinks the input is revealing, so that it doesn’t have to process as much data.
Sounds very efficient in theory, but the problem with those shortcuts is that our brain ends up working less and over time, that can lead to all sorts of problems, the least of which is thinking you’re seeing something you’re not and – at the other end of the spectrum – difficulty in problem solving, decision making and observation, not to mention an increase in the risk for diseases like dementia.
To combat this (and keep your brain on its mental toes!), experts recommend exercising your noggin with brain teasers, logic problems and yes, optical illusions like this one.
So, knowing that, let’s see how well you do with these optical illusions… each one contains a real item and a drawing. See if you can spot the context clues that reveal which is which!
Here’s our two popsicles again. While the two appear to be scary-similar, there are a couple of differences that we can look for, “context clues” to help us identify the real thing.
First, notice the shape of the shadow around the popsicles. While the popsicle itself looks realistic for both accounts, there is a distinct difference on the shape of the shadows – the one on the left side holds a smoother shadow around the bottom of the popsicle and at the bottom of the stick, and therefore must be the real one.
You were right! And you didn’t even have to wait for the popsicles to melt to decide J
This one is a little trickier – both look realistic and extremely appetizing – but let’s again pay attention to the shape of the shadows around each object. Can you decide which one is the drawing?
If you guessed the one on the right, you were correct! Although, I guess you could’ve just reached for each one and seen which one was tastier…
Out of the two tomatoes, which do you think can be used for a delicious tomato soup? Pay attention to the shadow and the coloring of each tomato.
The one on the left is the drawing – and would probably NOT make a very good tomato soup.
Okay, context clues time – analyze each Butterfinger wrapper and see if you can pick out the imposter within the Butterfinger gathering.
That one was tough, right? It blended in so perfectly, right down to the wrinkles in the wrapping and the light reflection. Of course, it probably didn’t taste as good as the others.
Even though it’s not candy cane season anymore, some people just can’t resist a delicious candy cane. Here’s a twist though – only ONE is real, and the rest are drawings. Can you pick out the real treat?
The one in the center is the one for you, while the others are just convincing drawings that you can admire but not actually enjoy. They would however, make nice cut-out ornaments for the tree.
This one might be the trickiest of them all – this row of matchsticks might look convincing, however, there are some fake ones in the mix, a little more than half, in fact. Can you guess which side of the matchsticks is the fake one?
If you guessed the right side, you are correct. Kind of hard to tell on that one, wasn’t it? That’s because there’s not too many context clues to work with.
The master behind these crazy illusions is Howard Lee, an England-based artist known for his deception work. Follow him on Instagram to see more or by subscribing to his YouTube channel.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
