Optical illusion: THIS mind-bending trick will reveal how your brain perceives reality

Ever wondered how the brain builds reality? What if we tell you that your brain sometimes sees things that aren’t present? Cannot agree with it. Well, then it's time to put your eyes to the test. Take a look at this optical illusion. Do you see rays, beams, or lines? This optical illusion is called the Scintillating starburst.

What is a scintillating starburst
This scintillating star bust is a novel visual illusion. This new class of illusion, developed by a visual artist and a psychology researcher, explores the highly constructive nature of visual perception. This illusion uncovers how our brains connect the dots. It also offers insights into visual processing.


Scintillating Starburst makes you see illusory rays that seem to shimmer or scintillate, just like a starburst. It is composed of several concentric star polygons, which prompts the viewers to see bright, fleeting rays emanating from the center that are not actually there.

"The research illustrates how the brain 'connects the dots' to create a subjective reality in what we see, highlighting the constructive nature of perception," Pascal Wallisch, a clinical associate professor in New York University's Department of Psychology and Center for Data Science and senior author of the paper, explains. The science behind this illusion is published in the journal i-Perception.

"Studying illusions can be helpful in understanding visual processing because they allow us to distinguish the mere sensation of physical object properties from the perceptual experience," first author Michael Karlovich, founder and CEO of Recursia Studios, a multidisciplinary art and fashion production company, added.

How Scintillating starbust tricks your eyes

Pic courtesy: Michael Karlovich, Recursia LLC

The researchers explained that the visual effects of this illusion are similar to other grid-based illusions. However, unlike other known visual illusions, this scintillating starburst evokes a number of newly discovered effects, among them the fleeting illusory lines that diagonally connect the intersection points of the star polygons.

To further understand how humans perceive this class of illusion, the researchers conducted a series of experiments, which had over 100 participants, who viewed 162 different versions of the Scintillating Starburst, which varied in shape, complexity, and brightness. The participants were asked a series of questions about what they saw, such as any bright lines, rays, beams, whether they are subtle or weak, and so on. They found that the confluence of several factors, including contrast, line width, and number of vertices, matters.

"In particular, a large number of prominent intersection points leads to stronger and more vivid rays, as there are more cues to indicate the implied lines," Wallisch said.



This experiment also showed how the brain ‘connects the dots’ to build a personal version of reality, even in basic perception, and explains how constructive perception is.