If you spot 16 circles in this weird optical illusion it says one thing about your brain

People are losing their minds over this famous yet bizarre optical illusion.

They say a picture can paint a thousand words, and this is no exception. But unlike manythat claim they can reveal parts of your personality or secret desires, this piece of trickery works by showing how your brain works.

It relies on our perception of shapes - drawing attention to what objects we see the most in our day-to-day life. Intrigued? You should be. Known as the Coffer Illusion, this fascinating black-and-white image was created by vision scientist Antony Norcia at a research institute in San Fransisco - debuting as a finalist in the 2006 Best Illusion of the Year Contest.

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Look at the image above and what do you see? A bunch of rectangles, or something else? You may think it looks like the bird's eye view of a chocolate bar, or perhaps a series of sunken door panels - but there are actually 16 circles hiding in plain sight.

"Sometimes, as in the Coffer Illusion, there is no right' grouping because the image is inherently ambiguous," reports ABC. "Two different groupings make sense — a single set of horizontal lines can either form a circle, or be the intersection between two rectangles. For most people, the grouping into rectangles initially dominates. This may be because rectangles (including the ones we see in door panels) are often more common than circles in our daily environment, and so the brain favours the grouping that delivers rectangular shapes."

If you really want to see the circles but still haven't witnessed the image 'flip', don't worry. Try focussing on the space in between the rectangles.

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The illusion often recirculates on social media - leaving Brits absolutely baffled. Because everyone's brain is different and processes shape differently, not some take much longer than others to find the circles. Rectangles are much easier to spot as we encounter them much more in every-day-life, such as our mobile phones, TV, laptop screen, and even books.

"I immediately thought it was a trick question and the circles would be the letter O in the text or something like that. But neat illusion!" one person raved on a Reddit thread. Another commented: "I can find them, but if I blink, they're lost. I love it!" while a tird added: "This is the second time I have seen this and I still cannot see them. Ugh."

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