A fantastic optical illusion has recently gone viral online, and for good reason. It’s one of those things that amazes, perplexes, and blows your mind all at once.
It involves stick figures that when you first look at them, appear to be moving. It’s only after you look at them long enough that you realize they actually still haven’t moved at all. We watched for a few minutes to make sure there’s actually no movement and it still seems unbelievable.
The trick is actually very simple. Twitter user Jagarikin, who created the illusion, used light and dark colors to create the illusion of movement. As the colors flash in the high contrast, your eyes tell your brain a message that the figures are moving forward. Focus on looking one of them individually and it becomes clear that they’re in fact not going anywhere.
There is one figure that has some movement just to confuse you more. The lower right one moves its arms and legs back and forth, but the little guy isn’t actually going anywhere. If you want, you can try covering it up and look at the rest of them and it would still work. Check it out for yourself!
