Please complete your profile to unlock commenting and other important features.

Please select your date of birth for special perks on your birthday. Your username will be your unique profile link and will be publicly used in comments.
Narcity Pro

This is a Pro feature.

Time to level up your local game with Narcity Pro.

Pro

$5/month

$40/year

  • Everything in the Free plan
  • Ad-free reading and browsing
  • Unlimited access to all content including AI summaries
  • Directly support our local and national reporting and become a Patron
  • Cancel anytime.
For Pro members only Pro
Summary

This Optical Illusion Has People Divided As Everyone Is Seeing A Different Number

What number do you see?

Western Canada Editor

An optical illusion involving numbers is the latest craze surfacing across social media — and it's getting lots of reactions because everyone is seeing a different number.

Remember the dress that was either blue and black, or gold and white, which divided people in 2015? Well, another illusion is back and this time you'll really need to concentrate.

The image, which shows black lines rotating around in the shape of a circle, also has numbers hidden within the background.

A Twitter use named Benonwine captioned the post with a simple message: "Do you see a number? If so, what number?"

On initial glance, I saw "4528" and thought "well, that's easy," but then I saw people suggesting there were other numbers.

In the hundreds of replies to the post, some people say they can only see the number "528," while others are confused because they have other variations of numbers.

Many people are mistaking the "4" for a "1" and others guessed "15823" for their answer.

What Is The Correct Answer?

If you really concentrate, you can see the number "3" in the far left and then numbers "3" and "9" in the far right — so the correct answer is the seven-digit combination 3452839.

What Is The Science Behind It?

Optical illusions, such as this one, require something called contrast sensitivity.

According to ScienceDirect, this is the ability to detect subtle differences in shading and patterns, such as objects or details (numbers in this example) from their background.

Contrast sensitivity deteriorates with age and with health conditions such as cataracts.

Explore this list   👀

    • Western Canada Editor Daniel Milligan was the Western Canada Editor at Narcity Canada. He was responsible for developing trending news strategies and managing a team of writers and editors. Originally from the U.K., Daniel holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in journalism from Staffordshire University. Over the past decade, he has worked on major news stories including terror attacks in London, England, and Manchester, along with royal weddings, Brexit developments, the Canadian federal election and the Nova Scotia mass shooting. Daniel was a senior editor and newsroom leader at Trinity Mirror, one of the U.K.'s largest regional news websites. He would later move to Toronto and work at Yahoo Canada and CTV News/CTV National News.

    Canadians will be able to get Canadian Tire Money with their Tim Hortons orders soon

    Here's what you need to know about this Canadian collab! 🇨🇦☕

    This tiny Canadian spot is one of the 'world's most beautiful villages' & it's full of charm

    It's got quiet coastal streets, red sand beaches and quaint, cozy cottages. 🌊