Optical Illusions

The organizational mechanisms of vision are best demonstrated by illusions. Illusions illustrate that perception is a creative construction that the brain makes in interpreting visual data ....Learning does not prevent us from being taken in by these illusions.

 —  Eric Kandel

We do not see the world as it really is. What we perceive is a creative construction of the mind. Each of us generates our own subjective reality. The same provocation that evokes intense anger may seem laughable from a different perspective. We are all vulnerable to the errors that result from accepting the premise that our interpretations of the things that happen are valid and complete depictions of the objective world.

The images below - while limited to the visual modality - illustrate that perception is an creative construction of the mind rather than a valid representation of objective reality. [Illusions are not confined to the visual modality—here is a link to some auditory illusions.]

 

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