Brain Teasers

Our brains can do amazing things—but in the right circumstances, they can also fool us. Try the brain tricks and teasers below and find out what's going on in the brain in each one. If you're looking for more brainy fun, BrainHQ has four brain fitness exercises you can try for free now.

Brain Teaser Description
Adelson's Same Color Illusion Which square is darker, A or B? Incredibly, they’re actually the same color. Find out why your brain doesn’t think so.
Autostereograms You’ve probably seen autostereograms before, where you can see a three-dimensional image in a seemingly random pattern. How does the brain do it?
Cafe Wall Illusion How does your visual system fool you into thinking this pattern is something it’s not?
Hidden Animals Changing your perspective can reveal surprising new information. Can you change yours to see more than one animal here?
In Depth Look at the two monsters. Though one looks larger, they’re actually the same size. Why does the brain interpret one as bigger than the other?
Long and Short Can you tell which line is longer in these two illusions? Chances are what you see and what you would measure don’t match.
Missing Letters Count the “f”s in this passage of text. You might be surprised to find out you don’t count them correctly!
Motion Ambiguity Take a look at this square. Why does it switch from just spinning to pulsating? Learn what your visual system is doing.
Never-ending Scales Put on your headphones and listen to this scale that goes down and down, while never getting any lower.
Rainbow Illusion What happens when you stare at this oddly colored arc? Your brain will make a candy-colored surprise out of thin air.
Scrambled Text Try to read this scrambled paragraph. You can probably do it without too much trouble. Find out why!
Secret Words Each of these words hides another one. Switch from foreground to background to spot them!
The Hermann Grid Can you count the black dots in this image? It’s actually impossible! Find out what’s happening in your visual processing.
Twisted Squares These three illusions illustrate how your visual system changes its interpretation of what you see depending on other available information!
What Do you See? In this picture, some people immediately see a vase, while others see two faces in profile. How does our brain switch back and forth?

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