This Year's Best Illusion Winner is Both Confusing and Hypnotizing

Every year, The Neural Correlate Society (NCS) holds a competition for the best optical illusion. The contest sees many mesmerizing and awe-inspiring submissions that are bound to dazzle, confuse, and entertain.

RELATED: 11 SPOOKY OPTICAL ILLUSION TRICKS OUR MINDS CREATE

Dual Axis Illusion

This year's winner hails from Frank Force, a programmer and video game designer. Named “Dual Axis Illusion,” the submission was voted the best illusion out of 10 other shortlisted impressive illusions.

At first, it might not look like much. A few simple black lines on a white background. But then the lines start to move and you truly understand the power of this illusion.

As the lines twist and turn, they appear to be going in all directions, making it impossible to find which axis the shape is rotating around.

"This spinning shape appears to defy logic by rotating around both the horizontal and vertical axis at the same time! To make things even more confusing, the direction of rotation is also ambiguous. Some visual cues in the video will help viewers change their perception," writes the submission's description.

Wonderful inventions

Optical illusions are wonderful inventions that play with our brain's rigidity. As such, they even allow scientists to explore how our powerful but still mysterious brains work. 

Dual Axis Illusion is no exception. In some ways, the illusion allows you to see what you want.

Focus on one particular way, and the lines move in one direction. Change your focus and the lines move in a whole new direction.

Still, one thing is for sure, and that is that you can never be certain what direction the shape is actually going in.

Dual Axis Illusion is not the only wonderful illusion to be exhibited in the competition. The second prize went to Haruaki Fukuda for his “Change the Color” submission that featured dots changing colors.