A SIMPLE picture of a pet owner’s cat has become the subject of a vigorous debate after it went viral on social media overnight.
At first glance, the image shared by Twitter user Robert Maguire, appears to show the side profile of a crow on a tiled floor.
However, as the uploader pointed out this isn’t the case. Captioning the image he wrote: “This picture of a crow is interesting because … it’s actually a cat.”
“This picture of a crow is interesting because … it’s actually a cat,” he wrote.
This picture of a crow is interesting because…it's actually a cat pic.twitter.com/dWqdnSL4KD
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) October 28, 2018
On closer inspection, you can clearly see the image shows a black cat looking up at the camera with its head tilted so its ear looks like a bird’s beak.
Mr Maguire’s picture has now prompted more than 123,000 reactions and more than 42,000 shares by baffled Twitter netizens.
“My mind has been blown,” wrote one user.
“I had to do a double take,” wrote another.
Others pointed out similarities to another famous optical illusion, which can say a lot about your brain depending on what you see.
More than 100 years after it was first created, a drawing of a duck/rabbit which first appeared in a German magazine in 1892, went viral on social media.
American psychologist Joseph Jastrow used the image to make the point that perception is not only what one sees but also a mental activity.
His research was based on how quickly one can see the second animal and how fast participants could change their perception of the drawing to switch between the two animals.
His research suggests the quicker you can do this, the more creative you are.
It’s also believed that the time of year also changes what people see.
