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This Online Group Shares Images With Misleading Headlines That Completely Change What We See (30 New Pics)
Neuroscientist Patrick Cavanagh says that “It’s really important to understand we’re not seeing reality.” What we’re seeing instead is “a story that’s being created for us.” In most cases, our brains generate stories that match the physical world, but as we see below in the post, that’s not always the case.
So what if it sees not what there is, but quite literally what we tell it to see? ‘Misleading Thumbnails,’ a subreddit community that shares misleading titles added to images, completely changing what our brain sees in them, may have some answers.
“Not always what you think,” states their slogan, so you get the idea. Let’s get ready to be bamboozled and be sure to check out our previous post with more pictures with misleading thumbnails.
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Person Running Through The Snow
I saw the person first but then almost instantly it flipped to the dog. Now it's going back and forth for me. Very interesting.
Broken Chair
Musical Notes
“As humans, we’re fascinated by optical illusions both because they are a symbol of human creativity and because they demonstrate just how good we are at flexible thinking,” Lisa Yaszek told Bored Panda. Lisa is a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech where she researches and teaches science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures.
There is something inherently pleasing about the ability to perceive an image in different ways, argued Lisa, and she wondered if it’s “perhaps it’s part of our natural aptitude for learning.”
“Whatever the source of our love for optical illusions, it’s fascinating to note that the desire to create optical illusions seems to be as old as humanity itself. The prehistoric artists who decorated the Cave of Altima 20,000 years ago used the natural bulges in the rock walls of the cave to give volume and depth to the animals they drew there; the Greek-Egyptian inventor Heron of Alexandria (10CE-70AD) engineered a device that made it look like priests could open temple doors with verbal commands; and the Airavatesvara Temple in India is covered in 800+ year old carvings of animals that change species when viewed from different angles.”
Rare Madagascar Spider
A Close-Up Photo Of My Sewing Needle Collection
Baby Deer Chilling On A Chair
The professor said that it’s no surprise that we are in a moment of renewed fascination with optical illusions, as the above examples suggest. “Whenever people invent new creative or technical processes, they use them to create optical illusions! Indeed, we’ve seen this throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: pioneering filmmakers like George Melies drew on vaudeville stagecraft and scratched and painted on celluloid to create the first filmic special effects; Op artists Josef Albers and Bridgette Riley manipulated geometric forms on canvas to convince the eye that unreal spatial places existed; and today we have digital technologies that allow us to radically transform the scale and presentation of images in sometimes truly mind-blowing ways, as we see in these images from the 'Misleading Thumbnails' subreddit community!”
This Guy Has A Massive Afro
My Pet Pinecone
Bring Your Child To Work Day
Screaming Human Heads
“Of course, there is one difference between earlier optical illusion artists and the ones featured on this subreddit,” Lisa noted and continued: “the former were intentional about creating their optical illusions, while the ones featured on this subreddit probably didn’t mean, for instance, to make a group of adorable puppies look like fried chicken.”
“Having said that—these accidental optical illusions give the members of this subreddit community a chance to become artists themselves by posting the misleading thumbnails and images online so that others can delight in the illusion with them,” she concluded.
Fried Chicken
Water Waste Disposal
This Flawless Egg
This Little Frog Hiding Out In A Birdhouse...
Previously, Bored Panda spoke with the moderator team of the Misleading Thumbnails subreddit, who shared some insights on their community. The moderator u/pajam said that r/misleadingthumbnails was created by a user named Noot 9 years ago when he was “scrolling through Reddit and came across this thumbnail.”
The creator couldn't imagine this not being some sort of NSFW image, but then when he opened it and saw the full-size image, he realized it was just a baby pig between two other pigs. “So he was misled by the thumbnail, and thought it was a unique experience blending optical illusions with a sort of 'mind-blown' experience.”
At that point, they realized there was no similar subreddit like this, and the Misleading Thumbnails subreddit was born. Since its creation in 2011, the subreddit is home to 492k members, or as they call them ‘’bamboozled ones.’’
Microscopic View Of A Flesh Eating Maggot
Got My Shiny Blue Ball Stuck In A Tree
My Hand After Gardening
“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die
Load More Replies...Cheeseburger Without Bread
However, the evolution of the subreddit has become somewhat “frustrating” since Reddit changed its default design. The moderator explained that it used to include thumbnails for every single post, which was normal practice for over a decade.
After there were no thumbnails left, the Misleading Thumbnails made fewer sense with the new design. “New Reddit has made 'Card View' the default view for new users, thus those users won't see any thumbnails whatsoever unless they actively switch to 'Classic View' or change their settings to use the 'Old Reddit' design.”
This proved to be a particular frustration to new members who struggled to get the concept of the whole subreddit. The moderator explained that new viewers would instead treat it like the plethora of other 'Misleading Images' subreddits (/r/Pareidolia, /r/confusing_perspective, /r/forbiddensnacks, etc.). And that wasn’t its original idea.
This Throw-Blanket On A Couch
Succulent
The Clearest Water In The World
Woman Licking Baby's Head
But the moderator said their community stays positive. After all, Misleading Thumbnails still has a lot of redditors who prefer the old Reddit design as “most users were redditors before the redesign” and “they are passionate users about keeping the subreddit true to its roots.” The new ones, though, find the subreddit appealing for different reasons, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
Vibrant Sandals
A Nug Of Weed
Frozen Turkeys
Pulled Teeth
Misleading Thumbnails gets an average of 1 to 30 posts a day, and according to the mod team, their content is limited and comes in waves, “as it relies on random chance.”
Turns out, you can never guess “what images will end up looking different when it gets shrunk down to Reddit's thumbnail size.” However, when it happens, it's a pleasant surprise for everyone, and “we'd love people to share those posts here.”
Squid Ink Dough vs. Normal Dough
After Double Amputee Surgery, Woman Caresses What’s Left Of Her Legs
New Daft Punk Member
When it comes to the meaning of “Misleading Thumbnails,” u/pajam explained that it refers to “the experience of scrolling through Reddit, browsing the post titles and thumbnails... then seeing a thumbnail that your brain can't imagine could be anything else besides what it assumes it is looking at.”
The idea is that when you click on the post to see its full size, you get really confused. The mod explained this feeling: “your mind gets blown as the image looks entirely different now.” Somehow the act of shrinking the image down to the size of a tiny Reddit thumbnail unexpectedly causes a unique optical illusion. Add a misleading title to it, and you get your brain seeing things that weren't ever there.
Lost Black Handbag Found At The Beach
I Made Us Some Pizza Breads In The Toaster Oven.
Happy Cat Mama
My Foot Is So Dry
Cells Under A Microscope
A Farm From Above
This Geode I Opened Today
Cinnamon Roll
Mris Show How Different Parts Of Our Brains Light Up When We Feel Different Emotions
Blob Fish
Last Concert I Attended Before Covid
I Really Need To Hit My Motherboard With Some Dust-Off...
Burning House
A Bunch Of Chili Peppers Soaking In Water
Pouring Honey On Table
Huge Pieces Of Bacon
Worst Urinals Ever
Close Up On The Hole On My Carpet
40,000 Exposures Of The Moon For A Ultra Hd Pic.
Various Types Of Brie Cheese
Sushi
Exotic Tropical Plants
Outlet In A Blue Wall
New Ramen Shop Opened In Town!
If someone opens up a dog themed ramen shop I require them to use this as their logo it's so cute
Sand Under A Microscope
Booty
A Pair Of Lungs Taken From A Chronic Smoker That Died Due To Covid Related Complications
A Pair Of Lungs Taken From A Chronic Smoker That Died Due To Covid Related Complications...and a side of corned beef
The Lungs Of A Non-Smoker (Left) vs. A Smoker (Right)
Breakfast With A Cup Of Hot Chocolate
Some Mucky Bastard's Done A Poop On My Favourite Chair!
Fried Cpu Socket
Scientists Report Earth On A Collision Course With Newly Discovered Planet
AT-AT Full-Size Replicas
They used one of these to recover the Razor Crest in The Mandalorian. :D AT-AT-6138...728eea.jpg
Man Wrestling With A Giant Worm
A Pile Of Human Skulls That Was Recently Discovered In The Paris Catacombs
Rusted Chains
Lava Flowing From A Burst Volcano
The Starfish Nebula
They're Installing The Crappiest Seats At Our Local Stadium
Zoo Worker Prepares To Feed The Lions
Close-Up Of My New Keyboard
Great. I used Google Lens to identify this pic (where is this interesting terrain?). It came back as this very post. Where is this?
Brain Scan Of A 82-Year-Old Man With Alzheimer's
Ancient Arrow Heads Changing Over The Years
This might have been more believable with out the star destroyer label....
I Recently Got A Meat Grinder, And Made Freshly Ground Beef For The First Time. Who Wants Hamburgers?
Pink Floyd's Alternative Album Cover - The White Side Of The Moon
Chubby Cockatiel
My Company Had To Pay A Huge Fine After Accidentally Cutting Through These Cables.
About To Start A New Patch On My Modular Synth.
Slides On A Cruise Ship.
Dropped A Plate Of Spaghetti
Microscopic Parasite Removal
Popped Open My Wristwatch To View The Mechanism
I always knew tiny people worked the insides of watches. There in TV's too.
Some Q-Tips On My Desk.
Just Finished Building My New PC Case
I Accidentally Got Soap Bubbles On My Food :c
This Firepit At The Beach
A 19th Century Chandelier
Check Out My Sweet New Stapler
Biggest Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever Made
Child Relaxing Inside A Gutted Animal Carcass.
"My tub is covered in gemstones. - Haha! You poor loser! My tub IS a gemstone."
Can’t Wait To Head To The Tropical Islands Post Pandemic.
What is it? Google image search guessed at algae or a jellyfish 🤷♀️ I thought maybe some kind of mould?
My Cheetara Costume
Boba Fett's Ship Slightly Redesigned For The New Disney+ Series
Looks more like a redesign of Slave II, one of Boba's other ships, that one had a none symetrical design with only one side stabilizer. Slave-II-6...c3-png.jpg
New White Leather Shoes
Non-Muslims Guarding Muslims During Prayer Time
These Skateboard Wheels ✨
Too bad I can't eat them. Those sugar coated make me nausea.
Various Sized Kalamata Olives
I had a guess to myself before reading the caption and was correct for the majority of these.
None of these worked for me. I mean, that woman is clearly holding newborn twins.
I don't know what that first image really is, but it isn't a person running through snow; it it was, then that dude is running on a terribly broken left leg!
It works if you are scrolling to the picture without focusing on the picture, like if you read the title first, so your eyes are focused on the text rather then the picture. Then your brain tends to guess at the broader image instead of picking out the details that give it away.
It is an interesting challenge to look for the title in the images. Most are very meh and need worse resolutions
Absolutely stupid. Much more interesting just the photos themselves.
Wow, way to ruin the party. This was a fun article, not a campaign speech. Maybe lighten up a little?
Load More Replies...I had a guess to myself before reading the caption and was correct for the majority of these.
None of these worked for me. I mean, that woman is clearly holding newborn twins.
I don't know what that first image really is, but it isn't a person running through snow; it it was, then that dude is running on a terribly broken left leg!
It works if you are scrolling to the picture without focusing on the picture, like if you read the title first, so your eyes are focused on the text rather then the picture. Then your brain tends to guess at the broader image instead of picking out the details that give it away.
It is an interesting challenge to look for the title in the images. Most are very meh and need worse resolutions
Absolutely stupid. Much more interesting just the photos themselves.
Wow, way to ruin the party. This was a fun article, not a campaign speech. Maybe lighten up a little?
Load More Replies...