Do the pigs in the foreground look larger than the one in the background? Dimensions of foreground and background can tickle our brains. Vurdlak explains that the pigs in the foreground are exactly the same as the one in the background.
Optical illusions, as you see illustrated here, can easily fool us because they draw from “lower level” knowledge. Interestingly, optical illusions trick our brain, and lead to inappropriate interpretations because we have not given the images our full attention.
On the other hand, careful examination of visual imagery helps us to discern distance and size estimations, contrasts, structural factors, mental rotation, and influence of knowledge. Giusberti’s research shows that understanding visual imagery takes longer and moves us past initial assumptions, as we make sense of the world, since we put in motion higher cognitive processes.
Our minds deal with complexities of visual problems by looking for simple solutions. The brain looks for relationships and patterns to group similar items as it unravels the puzzle. As this process occurs, we perceive these pieces as a whole. Psychologists call this a Gestalt effect, in which your mind fills in the missing pieces.
You’d enjoy playing with some very amazing illustrations of optical illusions and optical perceptions available at German researcher, Michael Bach’s web. He presents 66 topics available topics.
Outstanding optical illusions can be viewed at Akiyoshi Kitoka’s illusion pages:
Some of my favorites on this site are Sunflowers and Typhoons with Blue Eyes.
What do you think of the illusions found at a web very aptly named, At the Persistence of Ignorance?
Jean Constant also presents very interesting phenomena at her web.
What did you learn about initial interpretations of what you see?
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