Optical illusions play tricks on your brain and can make you see things that aren't really there, from static images swirling around the page to images that stay with you even after you look away. Scientifically, researchers use optical illusions to gain insight into how humans see and process visual information, although the mechanisms behind many of them are still a mystery.
This list is based on the Merriam-Webster definition of optical illusion, which states that an optical illusion is "a misleading image presented to the vision." However, some researchers have argued that the term "optical illusion" should only be used for physical phenomena caused by light interacting with matter, and that illusions caused purely by the brain are technically "visual illusions."
