How the Illusion Works: Scintillating Grid Illusion takes advantage of a neural process called lateral inhibition, which describes how an excited neuron in the brain tends to reduce the activity of its neighbors. This process is used by the brain to increase the visual system’s ability to respond to edges of a surface which helps you navigate your environment, like noticing individual steps in a staircase. In this illusion, the inhibition of neighboring neurons adds up to a disadvantage, our brain pays attention to the edges in the image and inhibits the neighboring black dots in our peripheral vision, preventing us from seeing all 12 black dots at once.