A viral optical illusion of a simple thing cat minding his own business has left the Twitterverse confused once again. In this blurry black and white photo, the cat just went down…or maybe upward stairs…or maybe below? That’s for you to find out! Look closely at the picture again. While you figure out whether the sweet but confusing cat is going up or down, write down your first interpretation.
Small tip: In addition to just focusing on the cat, you should also pay attention to other parts of the photo. A few small details here and there can help you find a reasonable way out through confusing and common optical illusions. Below are some details of the most interesting observations shared by netizens on Twitter, along with some of the funniest and oddest reactions. “The gift is the left foot. If she is walking then that foot is on the stairs. Because her left foot covers the stairs, she is going up,” one Twitter user noted.
“It looks like going down the stairs because of the lip steps……I guess the question should be where is the cameraman….upstairs or downstairs,” one person wrote. “That’s Schrodinger’s cat, both going up and down the stairs,” another joked. “Down. The edge of the stairs will be dangerous if you go down (tripping hazard),” another user noted. “Up, unless the top of those stairs is just a wall,” one social media user added.
So what is the reality? There may or may not be a real answer to this optical illusion as the Internet is filled with many opinions and arguments. Some psychology experts even say that what you see is more important than reality because it can say a lot about your personality. According to Minds Journal, people who see the cat rising are said to have a more optimistic outlook on life. On the other hand, people who see the cat going down may be more skeptical and pessimistic. But if you really want to settle down, the cat going down still seems the surest argument, with the nose of the steps protruding above the step and the shadow under the protruding nose below the cat.
