Illusion
hideAn illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people. Illusions may occur with more of the human senses than vision, but visual illusions, optical illusions, are the most well known and understood. The emphasis on visual illusions occurs because vision often dominates the other senses. For example, individuals watching a ventriloquist will perceive the voice is coming from the dummy since they are able to see the dummy mouth the words. Some illusions are based on general assumptions the brain makes during perception. These assumptions are made using organizational principles, like Gestalt, an individual's ability of depth perception and motion perception, and perceptual constancy. Other illusions occur because of biological sensory structures within the human body or conditions outside of the body within one’s physical environment.
The term illusion refers to a specific form of sensory distortion. Unlike a hallucination, which is a distortion in the absence of a stimulus, an illusion describes a misinterpretation of a true sensation. For example, hearing voices regardless of the environment would be a hallucination, whereas hearing voices in the sound of running water (or other auditory source) would be an illusion.
Mimes are known for a repertoire of illusions that are created by physical means. The mime artist creates an illusion of acting upon or being acted upon by an unseen object. These illusions exploit the audience's assumptions about the physical world. Well known examples include "walls", "climbing stairs", "leaning", "descending ladders", "pulling and pushing" etc.
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News tagged with illusion
Optical illusions: caused by eye or brain?
Nov 11, 2008 |
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When viewing the famous optical illusion painting Enigma by Isia Leviant, many people claim to see motion within the colored circles moving against the black and white striped background. Although this optica ...
Scientists produce illusion of body-swapping
Dec 02, 2008 |
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Cognitive neuroscientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet (KI) have succeeded in making subjects perceive the bodies of mannequins and other people as their own. The findings are published in the online, ...
Lefty or Righty? A new hold on how we think
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Aug 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Whether you’re a lefty or righty, chances are you never thought your dominant hand played a role in the decisions you make. But what may seem as an unimportant trait might actually influence ...
The Vision Revolution: Eyes Are the Source of Human 'Superpowers'
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jul 03, 2009 |
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For Mark Changizi, it’s all in the eyes.
Best Visual Illusion of the Year: How a Curveball Works
May 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Visual illusions sometimes seem to have a magical element to them, but they're actually just the brain's way of interpreting reality. In an effort to promote public knowledge of cognitive ...
Perfect image without metamaterials... and a reprieve for silicon chips (w/ Video)
Sep 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Since 2000, John Pendry's work on metamaterials has been at the van guard of efforts to create a perfect image - images with perfect resolution that can stem from light being moved in odd ...
Barrow scientists solve 200-year-old scientific debate involving visual illusions
Nov 20, 2008 |
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Neuroscientists at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center have discovered a direct link between eye motions and the perception of illusory motion that solves a 200-year-old debate.
Transform a ball into a rock -- or make it invisible -- using transformation optics
Jul 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Science fiction and fantasy tales are full of the ability to "cloak" characters with invisibility. Whether it is a spaceship with a cloaking device, or a young wizard with an invisibility ...
Hollow mask illusion fails to fool schizophrenia patients
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Apr 06, 2009 |
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Patients with schizophrenia are able to correctly see through an illusion known as the 'hollow mask' illusion, probably because their brain disconnects 'what the eyes see' from what 'the brain thinks it is seeing', according ...
Scientists create touch-based illusion
Biology /
Jul 17, 2008 |
3.5 / 5 (10) |
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Anyone who has seen an optical illusion can recall the quirky moment when you realize that the image being perceived is different from objective reality. Now, a team of scientists from MIT, Harvard and McGill has designed ...
You, yourself and you: Why being self-centered is a good thing
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Oct 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Caspar Hare would like you to try a thought experiment. Consider that 100,000 people around the world tomorrow will suffer epileptic seizures. "That probably doesn't trouble you tremendously," ...
Discoveries shed new light on how the brain processes what the eye sees
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 02, 2009 |
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Researchers at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University in Newark have identified the need to develop a new framework for understanding "perceptual stability" and how ...
Not just your imagination: The brain perceives optical illusions as real motion
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Feb 02, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
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Ever get a little motion sick from an illusion graphic designed to look like it's moving? A new study suggests that these illusions do more than trick the eye; they may also convince the brain that the graphic ...
No such thing as a break in a curveball?
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 27, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
3
The answer to the question of whose curveball breaks harder -- that of the Yankees' A.J. Burnett or the Phillies' Cole Hamels -- may be neither.
Student self-testing earns high marks as study tool
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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College students who pore over their notes again and again as they prep for finals could use their studying time more wisely, according to new learning research from Purdue University.
