What’s not to love about optical illusions? They’re creative, interesting and every now and then we get to have our minds completely boggled. And if there’s one thing more exciting that an optical illusion – it’s an optical illusion that’s also a gif. Yes, an optical illusion that moves!

Lenstore has shared a brain-frazzling optical illusion of a circle that moves from left to right on a gradient background. And while it looks as though the circle completely changes colour, it actually doesn’t. What? I hear you gasp. Trust me, the circle stays the same colour. Before we take a deeper look, remember that if you like this optical illusion (and let’s face it, it’s baffling in the best way), you can find more in our roundups of our favourite optical illusions and the best optical illusions of the year so far.

According to the Lenstore (opens in new tab), the reason we think the colour of the circle changes is because “Cells send information to our brain through the optic nerve and the brain from that signal tries to interpret what we see. When judging colour, the brain perceives it differently when it is compared to what is surrounding that object, suggesting why we think the blue circle changes colour in this illusion”. 

Still don’t believe it? Well, Lenstore also shared proof of the circles all being the same colour (see below). This isn’t the first colour-related optical illusion they’ve produced that has left us feeling confused. Back in August, we saw a hypnotic orange optical illusion that left us feeling just as baffled as this one. 

I think I am going to sit staring at this illusion for a little while longer as I try to work out how the magic circle doesn’t change colour. In the meantime, why don’t you have a go at designing your own optical illusion? Just download Photoshop to get creating. And see our pick of the best animal optical illusions for more inspiration.

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