Remember The Dress? Honestly, who could forget. Was it blue and black? Was it white and gold? Why do I still care? There are some things that mess with us so badly that they leave a scar long after they’re gone.
But while The Dress has been dead to people for quite a while now, the internet has found a new optical illusion to freak out about: this photograph of strawberries.
This picture has NO red pixels. Great demo of color constancy (ht Akiyoshi Kitaoka) pic.twitter.com/pZHvbB6QHE
— Matt Lieberman (@social_brains) February 27, 2017
What’s so special about a horribly edited picture of a strawberry desert, you may ask? Well, the answer is simple: despite what your eyes may tell you, there is no red in this photo.
Yep, you read that right. All red pixels have been removed from the photo, but for some reason, the strawberries still look red. That’s because our brain is tricking us into seeing the fruit the way it remembers it looking, instead of the hues of blue, green and gray that are in the photograph.
People were understandably blown away.
@AmazingPhil pic.twitter.com/impqfxG83J
— i moved accounts (@mothvillager) March 1, 2017
https://twitter.com/natemerrillmn/status/837106818195288066
@AmazingPhil I'm… pic.twitter.com/iK5nkplLCH
— Kirsten (@lmSoDun) March 1, 2017
The photo was created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a professor of psychology who just happens to love making optical illusions.
"Planets of the Snakes" (2008): "Planets" appear to rotate. pic.twitter.com/EnUgU3K6Ex
— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) March 1, 2017
The hair and clothes of the right image appear to be black whereas those in the left to be white. They are actually the same RGB stripes. pic.twitter.com/q2AjD3jqEm
— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) March 1, 2017
It’s no The Dress, but it does have me questioning a lot of things in life nonetheless. 
