Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
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 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.
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.
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.
Can the output of the critters in your gut make your world illusory? Yes. And gassy, too.
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. Magicians are happy to accept the giggles, but are also puzzled by them. Why should magic often induce laughter?
Our new column article (with co-author Bevil Conway, of Wellesley College & MIT)—on the topic of The Dress—came out on newsstands in Scientific American: Mind this week. In celebration of our new article, we thought we’d tell you about how the world’s largest vision sciences conference recently celebrated The Dress
Congratulations to the winners of the 11th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest, hosted by the Neural Correlate Society! See them here, NOW!
Worldwide voting is now open to choose the Best Illusion of the Year, for 24 hours only, until 7 P.M. EDT, June 12. Go to the Best Illusion of the Year Contest Web site and choose your favorite illusion from the Top 10 finalists! If you miss it, you'll have to wait a whole year for the next vote!
This Thursday and Friday is the launch of this year's Best Illusion of the Year Contest, hosted by the Neural Correlate Society, is now an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection (that means YOU!) can vote to pick the Top 3 Winners from the current Top 10 List.
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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.
Read
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.
Read
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.
Read
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.
Read
Can the output of the critters in your gut make your world illusory? Yes. And gassy, too.
Read
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. Magicians are happy to accept the giggles, but are also puzzled by them. Why should magic often induce laughter?
Read
Our new column article (with co-author Bevil Conway, of Wellesley College & MIT)—on the topic of The Dress—came out on newsstands in Scientific American: Mind this week. In celebration of our new article, we thought we’d tell you about how the world’s largest vision sciences conference recently celebrated The Dress
Read
Congratulations to the winners of the 11th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest, hosted by the Neural Correlate Society! See them here, NOW!
Read
Worldwide voting is now open to choose the Best Illusion of the Year, for 24 hours only, until 7 P.M. EDT, June 12. Go to the Best Illusion of the Year Contest Web site and choose your favorite illusion from the Top 10 finalists! If you miss it, you'll have to wait a whole year for the next vote!
Read
This Thursday and Friday is the launch of this year's Best Illusion of the Year Contest, hosted by the Neural Correlate Society, is now an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection (that means YOU!) can vote to pick the Top 3 Winners from the current Top 10 List.
Read
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