Oreo ‘cake illusion’ reveals secret about the brain and leaves internet divided

ONE mind-boggling optical illusion that tricks the mind has gone viral on TikTok.

Optical illusions often play up colors and shapes to confuse the human brain.

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One TikTok user @TaylorNikolai illustrated how this works via an 8-second reel.

In the post, Taylor displayed an image of an Oreo cake and then insisted to his users that it was “just a picture.”

“It’s not moving,” he added, before asking his users to wiggle their phones.

“Look at the Oreo,” Taylor said. “It jiggles!”

What are the viewers seeing?

Since going live the video has raked in nearly 500,000 likes and tens of thousands of comments from shocked users.

“Omg, that’s amazing. It works for me. even when you pause it, it still wiggles,” one user noted.

“IT WORKS WHAT IN THE WORLD,” a second TikToker remarked.

However, not every user could see the jiggle.

“Ummm…I think it’s just a picture,” a third person retorted.

“Am I the only person who doesn’t see it,” another person said – this comment received nearly 1,500 likes.

How does this illusion work?

Basically, the illusion works by utilizing contrast and color, which makes people believe they are seeing motion in a still photo.

Eye care company Clear Eyes explained this in a blog post: “While you’re looking at the pattern, the small, rapid movements of your eyes are at fault for making this optical illusion work.”

“The rapid movement of your eyes is involuntary, so you can’t really blame them. One theory is this movement causes you to ‘see’ the after-image stored in your retina along with the new image.”

“Think of it as a ghost image overlapping a new image. This creates a rippling effect called the moiré effect.”

When similar patterns are repeated and merged together, it changes your visual perception of the object, causing your brain to believe the image is moving.