Visual illusions present clear and interesting challenges for how we live: How do we know what’s real? And once we know the extent of our brain’s limits, how do we live with more humility - and think with greater care about our perceptions?
And they fill in gaps using our past experiences.Īll of this can bias us. Our brains also unconsciously bend our perception of reality to meet our desires or expectations. Most of the time, the story our brains generate matches the real, physical world - but not always. “We’re seeing a story that’s being created for us.” “It’s really important to understand we’re not seeing reality,” says neuroscientist Patrick Cavanagh, a research professor at Dartmouth College and a senior fellow at Glendon College in Canada. But this particular illusion has recently reinforced scientists’ understanding of deeper, almost philosophical truths about the nature of our consciousness. Like all misperceptions, it teaches us that our experience of reality is not perfect. That alternating black-white patch inside the object suggests diagonal motion and confuses our senses. It’s moving up and down in a straight, vertical line. It appears as though the object on the right is moving diagonally, up to the right and then back down to the left.
As you gaze at the left dot, try to answer this question: In what direction is the object on the right moving? Is it drifting diagonally, or is it moving up and down? But wait! Finish reading this paragraph first.
Fix your gaze on the black dot on the left side of this image.
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