Optical Illusions essays

Optical Illusions essays 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 are on or near the surface of the body such as our eyes, ears, and tongue, but some are internal. Thus, we sometimes classify feelings of pain that are generated from certain regions of the body as those resulting from such elusive, but commonplace, conditions as a toothache or a headache. Each sensory receptor detects its own special form of energy, transduces the aforementioned energy, and transmits a signal to the brain. The reception of the signal in the brain represents sensation. How the brain interprets these signals and makes them meaningful is called perception. Most of the time the interpretation of the received energy is consistent with it. Sometimes, however, our interpretation...