Optical/Visual Illusions

Illusions Title: Goblin and the Two Faces, Hermann Grid, Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile, Inverted Faces-Thompson’s “The Thatcher Illusion”, Face in the Beans
Date: Oct. 4, 10
Class: Theory of Knowledge
Category: In Class

           Our mind is capable of fooling us through our perceptions; often referred to as optical or visual illusions. In class, we took a look at some of these optical illusions and tried to find patterns and make conclusions in how our mind processed these images. One optical illusion I looked at, was the Goblin and the Two Faces. The goblin was in black (positive), and to see the face, we had to focus on the white or the negatives of the image. The majority of the class admitted that they saw the goblin before seeing the faces and were not able to see the faces unless pointed out by someone else. However, once someone pointed it out to us, it was impossible to miss again. This could be seen throughout all of the optical illusions. For example, another optical illusion I looked at was the Face in the Beans. The image consisted of many coffee beans in no particular order, all jumbled up together. The description told us that there was a face hidden among these beans. I looked and looked but could not find it. I took a look at the hints the description gave and only then, I was able to see the head peeking through the mixture of coffee beans. However, I realized that when I was explaining this to my friends, I could not miss this man among the coffee beans. I could not go back to the state when I was not able to see the man.

Common optical illusions also included a change in the faces when laid side by side. The ones I could see this happening were Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile and Inverted Faces-Thompson’s “The Thatcher Illusion”. In the optical illusion called Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile, two faces were laid side by side and blur effects were imposed on these two faces to portray a different image. When there was little blur, the left image looked manly and angry while the right image looked happy and calm. However, when the blur effect was added to these images, the right image began to look manly and angry while the right image looked happy and calm. Similarly the illusion called Inverted Faces was very interesting because when laid side by side and upside-down, the faces looked identical. However, when these faces were turned right-side-up, the one on the left looked pretty and happy while the right image looked as if the woman was angry and her face had been distorted.

The last optical illusion I saw was called Hermann Grid. It was an image of black blocks with thick white lines in between them creating intersections which looked like street lines. When I stared at the intersections, I would also see black dots forming in all the other intersections except for the intersection I was staring at. How did this happen? It was no magical intersection that this applied to. Any intersection I stared at, I would see black dots in the other intersections.

Through the study of optical illusions, I was taught that humans often tend to see humans or a face in another object even though it may not be there. Is this because we want to make connections to ourselves physically? I also realized that if we know something has to be there in the image, we unintentionally focus harder and we are more open to new ideas. We may choose to look at the bigger picture or narrow down into details. I found this true in my case as I was looking for the face in the Face in the Beans illusion. We also tended to look at the positives or the dark images rather than the whites. This is why when I saw the Goblin and the Two Faces illusion, the goblin stood out to me more.

But why does our brain make these decisions to interpret images in these manners? Is this a technique related to survival skills? Is it because in real life, many living organisms are not white, but closer to having a color, or being black? And so the brain thinks that if we interpret these positive images, we are more likely to survive? If we were in a forest, and we saw a dark figure moving, we interpret as a threat or possible danger and so we would dodge or try to escape from the situation because we want to live; this is our instinct. Is this why the brain sees the black more than the white? How do we know that the brain does not also process the white, but we just choose to ignore it unintentionally? What are some justifications that can help convince that our brain really does see and focus on darker images more than the white images?

Being fooled by our visual perception through optical illusions, how can we trust that what we are seeing is really there and not another optical illusion? What if our whole world was an illusion? Something we are fooled into thinking is present when it really isn’t there? Some people such as Kelly Clarkson in her new song “Naked Eye” states that “Seeing is believing.” With these optical illusions, can we justify that this statement is false? If we justify this as being false, if seeing is not believing, then what do we believe? What then, becomes the determinant of what we believe?

Try some yourself:



nobeliefs.com



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