Optical illusion: Is the red car moving forward or backward?

This phenomenon is called the optical illusion of motion. It occurs because our perception of motion depends on the context and orientation points in the environment.

In this case, the surroundings of other cars can confuse our perception.

When there are other vehicles near a moving car, their movements and relative positions can influence how we perceive the motion of the observed vehicle.

That is, the brain tries to interpret its motion based on the surrounding objects.

Depending on the row of cars we are looking at, the red car is perceived as either moving forward (if on the top row) or moving backward (if on the bottom row).

This emphasizes how important context is to our perception of the world around us.