the science of illusions may 7, 2013
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The Science of Illusions
May 7, 2013
Cedar RienerAssistant Professor of Psychology
Randolph-Macon CollegeTwitter: @criener
Science Pub RVA
Illusions are Everywhere!
Perception
Attention
Memory
Happiness
Decision-Making
Language
Conscious Will
Illusion of Being There
Illusion of Being
Illusions are Informative
How we see it wrong -> How vision works
Visual Illusions Show Decisions
• We are interested in surface colors, object shapes
• But color and shape are not on the retina
• We guess at color and shape
Brightness is an Illusion
Which square is a lighter gray?
Illusions and Science: Brusspuporiginal illusion: Adelson Checkerboard
Brightness is a Decision
Luminance = illumination/reflectance
luminance
illumination
reflectance
Shape is an Illusion
Ames Window
Belgian Rock Band: Goose
Music Video for “British Mode”
Directed by Keith Schofield
Attention
We only see what we pay attention to
Attention movies
Memory is an Illusion
Listen to these words
Your memories change every time you remember
Not “record, rewind and play”
Which were on the previous list?
• Bed• Paper• Keyboard• Door• Drowsy• Awake• Doctor • Dream
• Sleep• Mouse• Camera• Box• Hospital• Rest• Skin• Nurse
Illusions are Everywhere (Review)
• Vision – Color/Brightness and shape are guesses and decisions
• Attention – We ignore most of what is out there• Memory – We recreate our memories every
time we remember
Illusions inform us of limits
Image on the eye
Attention
Memory} Constrained, short, sparse
But we’re good enough, smart enough…
To solve the common problems of human life (among the hardest engineering problems ever):
• Understanding and producing human speech• Walking• Object Perception (recognizing words, faces)
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