Optical illusion can tell you how stressed you are? Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

An optical illusion is spreading online along with the claims that it was created by a Japanese neurologist and can tell you how stressed you are.

Most variants claim that if the image appears to spin, then you are stressed or have cognitive (often dubbed “mental”) issues, which are worse the faster the optical illusion appears to spin.

Some examples are below –

This image was created by a Japanese neurologist. If the image is still, you are calm, if the image moves a bit, stressed and if it moves like a carousel, you are very stressed. Tell me how are you doing?

This still image was created by a japanese neurology professor Yamamoto, and he told the instructions below:
If its not moving, or just moving a little, you are healthy and has slept well.
If its moving slowly, you are a bit stressed or tired
If its moving continously, you are over-stressed and might have mental problems

While the optical illusion is genuine, and is indeed a still image that appears to move, the rest of the captions are nonsense.

Many of these messages (which have been posted mostly by low-quality aggregation pages and websites) make two claims –

– That it was created by a Japanese neurologist (many examples quoting Yakamoto)
– That it can tell you how stressed you are.

Both of these claims are fake.


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In reality the illusion was created by a Ukrainian designed named Yurii Perepadia in 2016, who has denied the claim that the illusion can determine how stressed you are, or if you are suffering from any kind of neurological issue.

Perepadia penned the following message from his Instagram account in response to the viral hoaxes –

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 colored background, this is a white and black stroke on a colored 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.

Crazy optical illusion, yes. But don’t attach it to lies.

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