The Neural Activity Patterns That Make Us Hallucinate
Hallucinations may arise from both imprecise sensory information and cognitive bias
Illusion Chasers
Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This (Everybody's Looking for Something)
On the night of June 7, 1525, the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer dreamt about the Apocalypse. Captivated by the dream’s imagery, he committed it to a watercolor he rushed to paint after he woke...
Victorian Illusions
This week a new article on illusions from the Golden Age, written by Susana Martinez-Conde and me, came out: Scientific American Mind . The Victorian era was a watershed in brain science and the study of illusions and perception served as the cornerstone for the field of Psychology that grew from it. ...
Dali's reinterpretation of Rembrandt's Self-Portrait
Salvador Dalí always thought of himself as a replacement for his older brother, who had died before the famous painter was born. Dalí’s theory is strengthened by the fact that his older brother had also been named Salvador...
Another da Vinci Smile Has Been Discovered
A long lost painting called "La Bella Principessa" reveals the earliest known use of his famous enigmatic smile technique from before the Mona Lisa was painted. The master seemed to intuit that the visual system is blurred in the periphery, and used the illusion to heightened effect in his art...
The Neural Seat of the Thatcher Face Illusion
The Thatcher illusion, discovered 35 years ago by vision scientist Peter Thompson of the University of York in the UK, was essential to current knowledge of face perception. Scientists already knew that faces were difficult to recognize upside down, but the Thatcher illusion went further to demonstrate that the brain does not merely process and store representations of whole faces, but it recognizes isolated facial features such as the mouth and eyes. ...
Convicts with Untrustworthy, Aggressive Faces more Likely to Get Death Penalty
There is no governmental institution more dedicated to rational thought and fairness than the justice system, but a new study shows that illusory facial perception is clouding the minds of our judges and juries, who can potentially decide to kill people based on their appearance. ...
The Long-Lasting Effects of Nazi Indoctrination
Is it possible to change public opinions, attitudes, and beliefs, through schooling, advertisement, or any other means? A study published two weeks ago in PNAS shows that Nazi indoctrination of antisemitic attitudes in Germany was extremely effective...
Expanding Illusory Perception to Microbes in the Gut
Can the output of the critters in your gut make your world illusory? Yes. And gassy, too.
What Makes Magic Funny?
Many magicians use humor in their shows, both for the entertaining value and as a misdirection tool. But magic audiences not only laugh at the magician’s jokes, but also at the magical effects themselves...
Blog Index
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Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
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Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
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