What is the difference between optical illusions and brain teasers?

Solving online puzzles has become the favourite pastime of internet users. There is nothing wrong with doing so. After all, these visual puzzles or riddles are scientifically proven to improve your cognitive abilities and also act as mood boosters. 

People are crazy for puzzles that challenge their creativity, intellect, and problem-solving abilities. 

The best thing about these puzzles is that while they challenge you and your brain, they are also super fun to solve. So, you can improve or strengthen your brain while also having fun. 

A win-win situation! 

There are two types of puzzles that have increasingly become popular- optical illusions and brain teasers.

While people are aware that these two puzzles are not the same, they lack a detailed understanding of how exactly they differ. So in this article, we will clear up any confusion regarding the differences between optical illusions and brain teasers. 

Difference between optical illusions and brain teasers

Before we delve into the differences between optical illusions and brain teasers, let us first define what they are.

What are optical illusions?

Optical illusions are visual phenomena where our brain perceives something different from reality. Usually, they are mind-boggling images or paintings of certain objects and/or animals that deceive our visual perception. 

These illusions can fool us into thinking things aren't really there, or they can trick our eyes into seeing things that don't exist. They also conceal or camouflage things that are present.

Optical illusions exploit the way our eyes and brain process visual information, causing us to see something that is not really there or to misinterpret what we are seeing. 

What are brain teasers?

Brain teasers are puzzles or riddles that, simply, tease the brain. These engaging puzzles are as challenging as they are entertaining. And if they are solved regularly, they can help us become more adept at problem-solving and logical thinking. These puzzles stimulate our thinking while we try to figure out the answers. 

Brain teasers come in various forms, like logic puzzles, riddles, picture puzzles, and seek-and-find puzzles. Finding answers to these riddles requires inventive, thought-provoking mental processes, and you will not be able to guess the answers right away.

What’s the difference between the two?

Here are some of the major differences between optical illusions and brain teasers:

• Optical illusions are graphic puzzles that are visually deceptive, whereas brain teasers are puzzles that challenge your cognitive abilities. 
• Optical illusions make you see something that isn’t there or conceal something that is. On the other hand, brain teasers challenge you to solve a puzzle, using your logical, creative or reasoning abilities. 
• Optical illusions challenge you visually and brain teasers challenge you to think out of the box. 
• Optical illusions require you to utilize your sense of sight and brain teasers involve mental activity. 

So, these were the differences between two of the most popular puzzles, optical illusions and brain teasers. We hope you enjoyed reading this article. 

You can try your hand at solving these puzzles here:

Optical Illusion Challenge: Only rare people can see the old woman hidden in this horse riding picture within 12 seconds!

Optical Illusion: You need to have 20/20 vision to spot all 7 hidden animals in this 1940s painting in 12 seconds!

Brain Teaser for IQ Test: Your common sense is better than others if you can find the weight of the three dogs in 20 seconds.

Brain Teaser IQ Test: Only the greatest puzzle solver can find the cat on the street in 5 seconds!