17 Optical Illusions That Will Melt Your Brain

A good optical illusion is able to make the mind perceive something totally different from the objective reality. Perfectly straight lines will bend, identical objects will appear distinct and colours will appear where none exist. There are a large number of optical illusion types that trick the brain in different ways. For example, illusions that fool the mind's perceptual organisation provide ambiguous information that the brain can interpret in two or more different ways, causing the image to morph depending on which version of the image your mind chooses to see.Other optical illusions can play around with motion and depth perception, using certain visual cues to trick the eye into seeing things that simply aren't there. Often, optical illusions are created by scientists interested in the relationship between visual information and what's really there. The art world has also had a strong interest in optical illusions throughout history, with artists such as Salvador Dali and M. C. Escher particularly known for their use of illusion techniques. This list takes a look at 17 of the best optical illusions of all time, from static images that will convince you of animation to real photos that initially appear impossible. After viewing some of these incredible entries, you just might want to take a rain check on reality!

17. The Leaning Towers

These two photos of the Leaning Tower of Pisa are actually identical. The brain considers them to be part of the same photo, giving the illusion that the tower on the right is leaning more than the other.