This Trippy Illusion Is Confusing People In More Way Than One

There is a time and a place for an optical illusion. You have to be relaxed but not tired, and feeling generally secure in your surroundings. Or off your tits on hallucinogenics. So really it's quite rare that it is the right time and place for an optical illusion.

Take this one for instance. Since it came into my life about half an hour ago, it has made me feel much more like I am at sea. I think it might also be inducing a lethal migraine/diarrhoea double header.

Shutterstock

So the last thing you need on top of its nauseating effects is to be told the illusion's potency corresponds to stress levels and fatigue.

The image was shared on Tumblr with a caption claiming it was designed by a Japanese psychotherapist, by the name of Yamamoto Hashima, and that the amount it moves reflects the stress levels of the beholder.

The caption read: "If it's not moving, or just moving a little, you are healthy and have slept well.

"If it's moving slowly, you are a bit stressed or tired.

"If it's moving continuously, you are over-stressed and might have mental problems."

Now I don't know about you, but that thing hasn't stayed still for a second while I've been looking at it. As such, I must be stressed - which to be fair I have been since seeing this disorientating shit.

But thankfully, it transpires the whole Japanese psychotherapist stress calculator explanation is bullshit. In fact, it seems Yamamoto Hashima doesn't even exist. Well, I'm sure there are Yamamoto Hashimas gracing this earth, but none of them are a psychotherapist who created this monstrosity.

Rather Ukranian graphic designer, Yurii Perepadia, has taken 'credit' for the illusion. Taking to Instagram, he explained how it came to be and dismissed the fear-mongering Japanese psychotherapist theories sweeping the internet.

He said: "I drew this optical illusion in Adobe Illustrator on September 26, 2016. To create it, I used the effect of Akioshi Kitaoka.

"This is a white and black stroke on a coloured background, which sets in motion the focus of vision and it seems to a person that the details of the image are moving.

"Japanese psychotherapist Yamamoto Hashima has nothing to do with this picture. Moreover, Yamamoto Hashima does not really exist. Google to help."

I suppose we owe Yurii a thank you for the clarification, it's good to know the wavy shapes don't mean we're stressed. But at the same time, I think Yurii deserves a big fuck you too, for conceiving of this shape-shifting abomination and the subsequent stress it has brought into our lives.

Topics: Viral, Interesting, Community, Weird

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey