Adele's viral optical illusion is breaking the Internet... and our brains

A trippy image of Adele has taken the internet by storm, leaving social media users baffled by a phenomenon called the Thatcher Effect. This mind-bending illusion makes it nearly impossible to spot inverted facial features in upside-down images-until the image is flipped right-side up, revealing the unsettling truth.

Named after the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the illusion was first described in 1980 by Professor Peter Thompson from the University of York. Originally, it was believed that the effect only worked on Thatcher's face, but over time, researchers discovered it works on nearly anyone's photo. And now, Adele's face has become the latest viral example of this optical trickery.

The Adele image in question shows her face upside down, but something feels off-yet it's hard to pinpoint what. That's the genius of the Thatcher Effect. Her eyes and mouth are right-side up, which looks relatively normal when the image is inverted. However, when the photo is flipped upright, the eerie distortion becomes glaringly obvious. Cue the collective internet freakout.

This isn't the first time the Thatcher Effect has gone viral. Clinical psychologist Dr. Julie Smith shocked her TikTok followers by demonstrating the illusion with celebrity faces like Barack Obama and Kanye West. Her video, which urged viewers to flip their phones to reveal the bizarre changes, racked up millions of views and over 68,000 comments, with fans calling the phenomenon both fascinating and freaky.

In Adele's case, fans couldn't get enough of the illusion. Posts on X exploded with comments like, "This broke my brain" and "Adele, but make it nightmare fuel." The singer, known for her soulful voice and stunning looks, became the unwitting face of this viral psychological quirk.

The Thatcher Effect works because the brain has specialized cognitive processes for recognizing upright faces. These processes prioritize the spatial relationships between features-like the distance between the eyes and mouth-over the details of individual features. When a face is inverted, these cognitive modules don't function as effectively, making it harder to detect abnormalities like flipped eyes or a rotated mouth.

While the effect is all fun and games on social media, it's also a critical tool in psychological and neurological studies. Researchers use it to understand face perception, cognitive development, and how the brain processes visual information.

Sources like The Guardian and BBC have previously explored the Thatcher Effect, while Dr. Julie Smith's viral TikTok continues to keep the illusion trending across platforms.