An image shared on Facebook claims to test your stress levels.
“This image was created by a Japanese neurologist. If the image is still, you are calm, if the image moves a bit, stressed and if it moves like a carousel, you are very stressed. Tell me how you are doing?”
But the image is an optical illusion. It tricks the brain into thinking the static hexagons are actually in motion. So anyone who takes the “test” seriously will always conclude that they are, indeed, stressed.
As Buzzfeed explains, it first appeared on a Tumblr post, now deleted, that claimed it was created by “a Japanese neurology professor named Yamamoto”. Other versions apparently called him Yamamoto Hashima, a psychotherapist.
‘Yamamoto does not exist’
The image is actually by Ukraine-based graphic designer and vector illustrator Yurii Perepedia.
In an 18 November 2018 Instagram post, Perepadia explained that he had created the image back in 2016.
“I drew this optical illusion in Adobe Illustrator on September 26, 2016. To create it, I used the effect of Akioshi Kitaoka. This is a white and black stroke on a coloured background... which sets in motion the focus of vision and it seems to a person that the details of the image are moving.
“Japanese psychotherapist Yamamoto Hashima has nothing to do with this picture. Moreover, Yamamoto Hashima does not really exist. Google to help.”
Perepadia’s Instagram account shows a number of his other optical illusions.
He refers to Akioshi Kitaoka, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. Kitaoka studies visual perception, visual illusions and optical illusions. He is the lead author of a study on the neural basis of “illusory motion perception evoked from static images”.
US-based fact-checker Snopes checked the image in December 2018, and concluded that the “stress test” was false.
So if the image moves for you, don’t worry: it moves for everyone. The movement is a normal reaction of our eyes and brain, and has nothing to do with stress. – Mary Alexander (07/01/19)
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Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
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Further Reading
‘A time of crisis’: fact-checking South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2023 state of the nation address
As he tried to reignite the enthusiasm of a wearied nation, did the president get his facts right? As we found out, it's all in the details.
[email protected]: The challenges of working across Africa
Misinformation knows no borders and Africa Check often responds to similar false claims from country to country.
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