Stop everything: before scrolling further, test your eyes. Among the dozens and dozens of “REs” you see in the image below, there is an intruder who has something different. It looks identical to the others, but it’s not. Your task? Find it in 8 seconds flat. Simple, right? Yet almost no one succeeds on the first try.
Visual challenges like this are not just a pastime: according to cognitive neuroscience, training rapid visual search improves the ability of selective attention, i.e. the brain’s ability to isolate relevant information in the midst of background “noise”. A study published in Psychological Science confirmed that exercises of this type stimulate the prefrontal areas linked to concentration and working memory. In short, playing is good for the mind.
But let’s get back to the challenge. Do you have your stopwatch ready? Go!
@GreenMe
At that time? Did you find the intruder? If the answer is yes, congratulations: you are part of that minority of people with a truly above average visual discrimination ability. However, if time has expired without results, don’t worry: the human brain tends to “normalize” repetitive sequences, automatically making small differences invisible. It’s an evolutionary mechanism called perceptual adaptation, and in this case it works against you.
Here is the solution:
@GreenMe
Did you like it? Share it with friends and family and find out who among you has the best trained eye. And if you want to keep training, below you will find other visual challenges to try!
