This optical illusion makes you see movement where there is only color change

None of the figures in this image move from their place: the stairs do not go up, and the little men neither jump nor fall, as can be seen if we cover part with our fingers.

The last puppet on the right does move his legs and arms, but he is standing at the same point, without scrolling the screen.

This is an optical illusion created by Twitter user @jagarikin.

His tweet has been shared more than 35,000 times in four days and, in addition, other users have moved the image in their accounts.

In Spain it has been popularized by the philosopher Jesús Zamora Bonilla, who has added another 9,000 additional retweets from his profile.

ス ー パ ー 錯 視 ブ ラ ザ ー ズ pic.twitter.com/bLkFhBOCeU

- じ ゃ が り き ん (@jagarikin) November 20, 2020

Although the author prefers not to reveal anything about his identity, he does explain to

by email that "the tone of the outline causes the optical illusion", similar to the "illusions of inverted phi".

When we see transitions from light to dark light (or the other way around), we interpret them as movement.

"The smaller the object, the greater the effect."

@Jagarikin himself published a similar illusion a few months ago, in which two cubes seemed to rotate when in reality the images are also still.

つ い に 立体 的 に 動 い て 見 え る 錯 視 が 完成 し ま し た。

キ ュ ー ブ が 回 転 し て 見 え ま す ね？

止 ま っ て い ま す pic.twitter.com/nyEWdr5O1

- じ ゃ が り き ん (@jagarikin) February 14, 2020

In fact, the same user then published a gif that worked as a tutorial in which he showed how this sensation of movement could be created.

In the example use only two shades for the outline, black and white.

Depending on where you place them and the order of the succession from light to dark, a sensation of movement and direction or another can be provoked, also depending on the contrast with the background.

（チ ラ ッ） pic.twitter.com/xf7ysbQmiC

- じ ゃ が り き ん (@jagarikin) February 16, 2020

Another example in which it is even clearer how the sensation of movement is caused by the change in contour is in this other illusion shared by the Japanese psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka specialized in perception and optical effects.

In his tweet he explains that the rings appear to rotate due to the change in luminance, although the black or white arcs are actually fixed.

a demo of reverse phi movement (Anstis, 1970)

Rings appear to rotate to and fro according to the change in luminance, though black or white arcs are stationary.

pic.twitter.com/tOHYka6v3P

- Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) March 17, 2020

The effect can be created even by altering the entire image and not just the outline.

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