Bizarre optical illusion leaves people wondering if they are looking at a car door or a beach

When viewing a 2-dimensional image, the brain can easily be fooled because it lacks crucial details like depth, lighting, and positioning. Optical illusions, which are widely studied by scientists, reveal how our brains interpret 2D images. A particularly confusing optical illusion has recently been going viral, leaving everyone unsure whether they’re looking at a beach or a car. At first, it seems to be a beach, but upon closer inspection, the shape of a car begins to emerge. The image has been spreading on social media, with many people still scratching their heads.

An X (formerly Twitter) user took to his social media to share the image and wrote, "If you can see a beach, ocean sky, rocks, and stars then you are an artist, But it's not a painting, it is the lower part of the car gate which needs to be repaired." People in the comment section were trying to make sense of what they were looking at. One X user, @dbderouen, wrote, "I’ve looked at this picture every which way possible, the only thing I see is someone might be looking through a window at a beach. Maybe if we saw the whole picture of the car, then it’s possible we might get it."

Another person, @logicalpoet, commented, "The photographer/editor is good at the rule of thirds and it really helps push the optical illusion.  I love the surreal surf scene. I can even see the ship in the distance—as long as I don’t look too close." A third X user, @AshwaniSarda, chimed in and said, "Worked even better for me when I blocked a tiny strip of the entire lowest portion of the image with a finger horizontally, from the little pebble to the right downwards." Another person, who goes by the username @SeattleSoftDevs, wrote, "I know something is wrong. I can feel it, sense it, and that strange square where the surf is not even confirmed it but I CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT STOP!!!! OMG STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

When the brain gets incomplete details, it naturally fills in the blanks to form a coherent image or interpretation. Since all minds process information in different ways, optical illusions can be perceived differently by each person. Studies show that factors like culture, past experiences, and individual ways of processing visuals can all influence how different people interpret optical illusions. The person who shared this particular image later explained that it's a car door, with a damaged seal panel beneath it. The curve of the door creates the illusion of a beach, as reported by TIME Magazine.

Therefore, people are most likely optimists at heart if their brain suggests that the image in question depicts a calm evening on the beach. Although eyes collect information, brains interpret it and determine what people are seeing. However, there are times when their brains are so off-track that they start to question if they're truly perceiving reality. After all, the brain can only label what it already knows. So when the wise Obi-Wan Kenobi warned that your eyes can deceive you, he wasn’t just speaking metaphorically, he had a point.