A new brainteaser is challenging the nation to spot all the mistakes in the optical illusion – but only 23% of people can solve it. Can you join the small group of people that can solve it?
This mind-bending puzzle is guaranteed to give your brain a tough workout, but are you amongst the select few who can crack it?
A mere 23 per cent of people can solve this brainteaser which demands participants wrap their heads around a sequence of optical illusions. Optical illusions test our minds to see beyond what they’ve witnessed and attempt to comprehend what lies before us.
The Dean McGee Eye Institute explained: “There are occasions when the brain is unsure of what it sees. Optical illusions occur when your eyes are presented with colours, lights, patterns, borders or areas of contrast that mislead the brain.
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“It tries to piece together images using optical clues, learned assumptions and past visual experiences. In these cases, there is a difference between the reality of what you see and what your brain thinks you see.”
He added: “As a result, your brain makes a guess and is tricked into seeing something that does not exist, or it struggles to decide between alternating versions of an image.”
For this optical illusion, you must establish a time constraint of 11 seconds. You should then examine the picture and spot all of the errors on the athletics track. There are five significant blunders in the image you ought to be able to identify.
Mind-bending puzzles aren’t merely an excellent method to while away the hours as autumn nights draw in – they’re also brilliant for keeping your brain sharp. Tackling demanding riddles, brainteasers and optical illusions could help enhance your mental function, increase productivity and sharpen memory.
Aaron Seitz, PhD, professor of psychology and director of the Brain Game Centre at the University of California in Riverside told Real Simple: “Studies show that staying mentally fit is important for long-term cognitive health, but the difficulty is figuring out exactly how to do it.”
He explained that different games suit different individuals, and discovering your personal challenge might be the most beneficial approach: “If you think about diet and exercise routines, some things work better for some people than others, and the same is true with brain games.”
READ MORE: Baffling maths brain teaser so tricky that some don’t even ‘understand the question’
Whilst it remains uncertain whether brain games and teasers genuinely boost your cognitive capabilities, they can assist in keeping you calm and alert, resulting in indirect advantages.
Nicole M. Avena, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and visiting professor of health psychology at Princeton University said: “While some studies show that brain training games are not effective, the recollection and work that the brain does during these games keeps your mind fresh and alert… Brain functions that you practise during these games-and the repetition of them-can help improve response time and sharpness.”
If you’re up for a new challenge, there are loads more puzzles waiting to test your mettle. Whether they’re designed to stretch your memory, quick-thinking or observational skills, there’s nothing quite like the buzz of beating the clock. Fancy trying to find the strawberry hidden amongst the watermelons?
Or if you fancy something a bit more challenging, why not try spotting the creature concealed in the zig-zag picture? Or, put your ‘highly intelligent mind’ to the test by figuring out the next number in the perplexing maths sequence.
