Hidden numbers optical illusion goes viral and baffles Twitter
Mysterious black and grey spiral plays on contrast sensitivity
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An optical illusion of a black and grey striped spiral is baffling social media after users reported seeing different sequences of numbers at its centre.
The visual puzzle was posted by @Benowine on 16 February and swiftly attracted thousands of responses.
Among those offering their answers were acclaimed French football writer Philippe Auclair, retired Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, and radio comedian and author Mitch Benn.
Some claimed to see only “528” in the middle of the spiral while others saw a longer sequence of “45283”.
In both instances, users expressed anxiety about what this might reveal about the state of their eyesight.
Others joked that they saw only the word “KILL” or speculated that the figure revealed the total number of parties prime minister Boris Johnson had hosted at Downing Street during lockdown.
In fact, the real answer is even longer at seven digits – 3452839.
The illusion, somewhere between a psychedelic magic eye poster and the notorious “what colour is the dress?” controversy of 2015, reportedly works by playing on contrast sensitivity, an aspect of ocular function that allows us to distinguish objects from their backgrounds.
A higher degree of contrast sensitivity is beneficial in low light conditions or in mist and fog when it is more difficult to perceive the difference between an object in the foreground and what lies behind it.
The puzzle plays a similar trick on the human eye by placing the swirls and numbers on different levels, meaning that those with strong contrast sensitivity are better able to pick out all seven digits.
Those in whom the quality is less pronounced may only be able to identify a shorter sequence.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments