Optical Illusion: Which Table Is Bigger? The Answer Will Leave You Stumped

Optical illusions and brain teasers are getting pretty popular nowadays. People like the idea of exercising their minds to figure out what a new optical illusion means.

Optical illusion: Which table is bigger of the two?

Now, a new optical illusion is making people scratch their heads. This illusion shows two tables - but can you tell which one is bigger?

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At first glance, it would appear the two tables are completely different in size and shape.

Any normal person would look at the image and says that the one on the left is obviously long and narrow and the one on the right is square, right?

But sorry to break it to you, it isn't what it seems.

This is actually an optical illusion and both table tops are exactly the same size.

How does it actually work?

The puzzling image, known as Shepard¡¯s tabletop illusion, was first published in 1981 by Roger Shepard, who called it Turning the Tables.

The illusion tricks our brains into seeing the two tables as different by using the positions of the legs, as per Digg.

The illusion is an example of 'size-constancy expansion,' the illusory expansion of space with apparent distance. The receding edges of the tables are seen as if stretched into depth.

According to Shepard, our depth perception is easily tricked and the effect is enhanced when the parallelograms grow legs to become tables.

How do optical illusions work?

Optical illusions reveal how one's brain works, and there are many claims about how they decode personality types, whether you are left-brained/right-brained, etc.

Simply put, when you look at something, what you are really seeing is the light that bounced off of it and entered your eye. This converts the light into electrical impulses that your brain can turn into an image.

The process only takes about a tenth of a second but your eyes received a constant stream of light and a significant amount of information, which is why it is really difficult for your brain to focus on everything at once.

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Think of it this way - your brain takes shortcuts, further simplifying what you see to help you concentrate on what is required. This helps compensate for your brain¡¯s tenth-of-a-second processing lag. This trait actually helped early humans survive encounters with fast predators.

While some optical illusions trick us into seeing motion, others trick our brains into perceiving colours or shades that are not visibly present.

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