Now, we love a good optical illusion here at Creative Bloq, but sometimes we come across one that's so baffling that nobody can agree on what's going on, and some people can't see reality even after hours of staring. That's the case of this mind-bending illusion that's currently perplexing viewers on social media.
Over on Reddit, someone posted the image below with a statement that at first seems to be an outright lie. "There is no yellow in this image," they say. But some people can't help seeing yellow even after doing everything they can to avoid it (see our favourite optical illusions once you've fried your brain with this one).
The optical illusion shared by u/-eumaeus on Reddit shows a striped rectangle containing three circles formed by different coloured backgrounds. The circles appear to be cyan, magenta and yellow, with other hues formed where they overlap.
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But we're told that no, that yellow is not yellow. And sure enough, if you zoom in close enough so that all you can see is a few stripes of the circle on the bottom right, you should be able to see that the colour isn't yellow, but is actually white. How does the illusion work? There's some debate about that.
Some people reckon that we expect to see yellow because that's what we're used to in the CMYK colour model. Others suggest that it's because the background in the rest of the image is not actually white but slightly blue. Only the background in the last of the three circles is white, and the juxtaposition with the other colours – and with what we assume to be white in the rest of the pattern, makes it appear to be yellow.
Click top right to expand the optical illusion and zoom in (Image credit: u/-eumaeus on Reddit)
Confused? Well, some people still refuse to believe the colour isn't yellow. "What does it mean if I cover 90-95% of the yellow lines and still see yellow then? HELP!!!!." one person wrote. "I still see yellow too," someone else added. oh no, it's the rotating horse optical illusion all over again!
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
