Everybody loves a good brainteaser and there’s nothing more fun than a spot-the-difference picture. But did you know that scientists were able to identify an important part of the right brain that fired up when children were working on these classic challenges?
So it turns out that you can exercise your mind all without leaving your desk. And many scientific studies also seem to indicate that doing these kinds of puzzles is a great way to ward off dementia and other degenerative brain conditions. Just like any other muscle in the body, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it!
Today we’ve got a great visual puzzle that should have your brain working hard. To do this, you’ll need to get out your phone and set a timer for 10 seconds. Then look at the image below and see if you’re able to find the difference in time.
Ready, set, go!
The challenge above looks really simple, right? Like something you would have had as a kid in elementary school. But how did you do?
Maybe you’re a little bit stumped. After all, cute cats A, B, and C all look exactly the same. They’re all the same color: yellow with a little bit of a white pattern on the tails. If you look closely, the jagged edges of the white are exactly the same, so fur color isn’t the difference.
What about shape or the color of the collars? All three of them have red-orange collars with a greenish bell on the end. So, no differences there either.
What about their paws? It’s hard to tell exactly how many toes the cats have, but what we can say for sure is that their paws are the same. We can see five different toes on the front paws and three on the back left leg. So the difference isn’t something you’ll find down there.
What about the faces? If nothing else is different, then surely it must be up there. But everything looks pretty similar up top too. There are three whiskers on each side on all three cats. These felines all have the same mouth in a lovely smile, along with adorable little triangular noses, just like real cats.
What about the eyes? Perhaps there’s something to be seen there? When we look a bit closer, we notice that they’re identical. Each of the cats has the left eye open larger than the right. They’ve also all got the same eyelashes, peeking out above their eyelids.
As for the eyebrows…
Wait a minute, cats A and B each have an eyebrow line drawn diagonally above the eyelids. Whereas cat C doesn’t have any eyebrows at all (nor do real cats, for that matter!). While cats have a patch of whiskers above their eyes, which help them judge short distances, they definitely don’t have eyebrows like humans.
So cat C is not only the drawing that’s different, it’s the one that is anatomically correct. Another tip-off would be the dark shading on the top of the head coming down toward the face. The illustrators seem to have cleverly hidden this in plain sight to make it look like the cat has eyebrows, unless you look really closely!
How about you? How fast were you able to solve the puzzle? Whether you nailed it quickly (good job, you’re of the few to do so!) or got stumped, why not share it with your co-workers and friends and see how they do!
