This Optical Illusion Uses Sound To Trick Your Eyes. Find Out How

Researchers at Caltech in California, USA, have created an optical illusion that's based on sound - and it has left thousands of netizens confused. The illusion, called 'the Rabbit Illusion', asks viewers to look at a cross at the top of the screen. While doing that, they hear a few ticking sounds and see some flashes at the bottom.

The question is, how many flashes do they see?

According to Insider, most people see three flashes when the sound is playing. However, there are actually only two flashes, and the trick lies in the sound. Since there are three ticking sounds, our mind creates a third flash to match, which is called an "illusory flash."

Grab your earphones and watch the video yourself:

Since being shared online two weeks ago, the illusion has been viewed over 3.5 lakh times on YouTube and has collected a ton of confused and impressed comments.

"I could swear I saw four flashes, one on top of the first flash, one in between the first and second.," writes one commenter. "I see 3 flashes with and without sound. The first two are close together in distance and time and then comes the right one," says another.

According to Caltech, this illusion proves that our senses can influence each other.

"These illusions occur so quickly that they illustrate a phenomenon called postdiction (as opposed to prediction) in which a stimulus that occurs later can retroactively affect our perceptions of an earlier event," they write.