As though the world isn’t already inundated with enough stimuli to power a semi-trailer, an optical illusion has come along and caused uproar on Twitter among time-sated users.
The viral image in question depicts a pink stencil drawing upon a softly blended turquoise and purple background, with the accompanying caption, “If you’re right-brained, you’ll see a fish; If you’re left-brained, you’ll see a mermaid”.
Naturally, images of this type cause a great deal of fussing and debating. However, this time, it doesn’t appear to be for the reason intended by the illustrator.
Many users said they couldn’t see a fish or mermaid at all, but rather a seal. Others, including Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling, believed the stencil to be a donkey.
It's a donkey, though. pic.twitter.com/a60ccFCQ2G
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 19, 2022
Seems people either see a seal or a donkey. But surely nobody, absolutely NOBODY… sees a fish, or a mermaid. Like looking at the gold/blue dress and going, “it’s a red bus”. pic.twitter.com/r6PAgadmpo
— Ralf Little 💙 (@RalfLittle) March 19, 2022
https://twitter.com/VVichelangelo/status/1505528082257661952
In fact, most Twitter users believe themselves have to been had by the image and its caption, with some claiming they see a kangaroo, while others claim the stencil is that of a rabbit.
However, the image already has one striking flaw, with that being the caption and its adherence to the left-brain, right-brain theory. For those of you who are likely right-brained, with fully aligned chakras, and their sun in taurus, the left-brain, right-brain theory is mostly baseless, according to a study by University of Utah.
“It’s absolutely true that some brain functions occur in one or the other side of the brain,” said the study’s lead author, Jeff Anderson.
“Language tends to be on the left, attention more on the right. But people don’t tend to have a stronger left or right-sided brain network.”
So, perhaps our “fish or mermaid” stencil was merely a tongue-in-cheek stunt by the original illustrator. That said, for years optical and audible illusions have puzzled cyberspace, and they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
In 2015, the internet collectively lost its mind over an image displaying what some believed to be a gold and white dress, and what other believed to be a black and blue dress.
Turns out, it was actually black and blue, but the way people were interpreting it was all dependent on how their brain interpreted the electrical signals being sent by the eye’s rods and cones.
Similarly, let’s not forget that whole Yanny and Laurel audio illusion that spread like delta among internet users in 2018.
