Optical Illusions

The question “What is an illusion?” is one that, at first glance, is strikingly simple to answer. Yet, it has eluded many a psychologist until the latter half of the twentieth century, when the workings of our psyche and the processes that underlie it became apparent to those that devoted their lives to the cause of its understanding. Upon further inspection, one realizes that optical illusions are not simply just that – they consist of the misinterpretations of sensory stimuli that can be attributed to many reasons, which vary from depth cues to the context within which an image is viewed. Thus, considering the complexity and depth of such a subject matter, it becomes evident and understandable that our quest to understand perceptual illusions has been a long and arduous journey.

In order to define the concept of an illusion, an idea central to our discussion, we must refer to the psychological processes of sensation and perception. Let us begin by examining the processes that concern sensation. Our bodies, and for that matter most living things, have special cells called sensory receptors. They can detect light, sound, temperature, pressure, odour, taste, pain, pressure, and balance, among other things. Most of these receptors

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Such programs, especially news programs, have a horizontally moving string of words along the bottom of the screen providing you with information. In many cases the ambiguity is simply whether you see the image as facing right or left. Sometimes, however, our interpretation is incorrect. Consider relative height, for example.

After Effects

The final class of illusions will deal with after effects. The lines and shapes of an image have two different meanings depending on which perception you have at the moment. However, mistakes can happen and it is in considering such mistakes that our perceptual abilities and its shortfalls become apparent. This is sometimes known as the waterfall illusion since it is often seen whilst staring at waterfalls.

Distorted Illusions

As we consider the category of distorted illusions we approach the concept false perceptions.

Illusions offer a nice window into perception, because they can reveal the limitations of our perceptual systems in a way that studying normal perceptual processes do not. We do not see many illusions in the real world because our visual system has evolved in such a way as to resolve the ambiguity that is inherent in a retinal image. In these cases two or more different interpretations of a figure can be seen, but never at the same time. When you shift your gaze to a neutral source of light they tend to under-respond while those receptors that were not sensitized by the prior stimulus respond appropriately. The reception of the signal in the brain represents sensation. Visual perception is essentially an ambiguity–solving process.

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