A recently viral optical illusion challenges our color perception , leaving many onlookers stunned. The illusion consists of a colored picture with green, yellow, and black objects in a seemingly Union Jack flag-like pattern (national flag of the UK). The catch is that some onlookers report seeing the picture in its traditional red, white, and blue.

This incredible effect is caused by a visual illusion known as the "afterimage." As you focus on the center dot of the illusion for some seconds and then glance away, your mind continues to work with the colors overstimulated, making the image appear in a completely different color. Overstimulation of certain photoreceptors in your eyes tricks your mind into assuming the colors should be the ones that would typically correspond to the Union Jack flag .

What makes this illusion so interesting is how it demonstrates the subtlety of human perception. Our brains do not simply construct what we see in the moment; they respond to visual data from previous experience and current stimuli. This illusion is a fun reminder of how vulnerable our minds are to deception and how color vision is not as absolute as it seems.

Toying with optical illusions like this one can be a good deal more than a little bit of fun experiment — it's a reminder of how our eyes and brain work together to present us with our sense of reality. So the next time you look at a photograph and think you see something, remember that what you see is not always the entire picture.