Our brain is like a supercomputer with no eyesight. We present data streams to this supercomputer with peripherals just like our home computer. For example, while we use the keyboard to write a text on our computer, we also use our eyes to transfer images to our brain. What we might think of as an extremely high-resolution camera is hard to mislead our eyes. Most of the time, no matter what we do, we cannot see the glass in front of us as a vase. So are there any exceptions to this?
While scrolling through social media, “What color is this outfit?” or “Is this image moving?” You have come across posts like These images, which are optical illusions, look different than they normally do. So what’s the reason for this? Why do our eyes have difficulty seeing such images clearly? Today we are going to explain to you what causes optical illusions that confuse our brain.
Why do optical illusions confuse us?
Although our brain is very smart, it needs peripherals for actions such as seeing, hearing, smelling and touching. The light captured by our eyes, which we use for the act of seeing, is transmitted to our brain and an image appears before us. The reason why our perception is difficult in these optical illusions is that our eyes are not very successful in complex images. Our eyes do not use many means of communication when transmitting an image to our brain. Due to this incomplete communication, the missing parts are created by our brain.
In most cases, these two organs work almost perfectly, but in some cases, our brain has difficulty understanding what the eyes are trying to tell it. As a result, our brain, which tries to fit the missing parts itself, causes us to see things that are not actually there. For example, this is the main reason why we see an image that is not actually moving as if it is moving.
This mistake made by the brain is rooted in human evolution.
You may have noticed that optical illusions are often seen when there are many small or repetitive objects. This is due to the brain’s inaccurate guess. Before civilization, humans were not at the top of the food chain. For this reason, our eyes and brains have evolved to be sensitive to movement. A tiny color change and rustle in the bushes was enough to indicate that a predator was preparing to attack you and that you should run away. For this reason, the human brain has evolved to be sensitive to movement. Optical illusions are also caused by this movement-sensitive complement system of the brain. Now let’s explain these optical illusions through examples.
The brain creates its own wave.
Do you see any movement in the image you see above? You probably think that the circles in the image create small waves. Actually, this image does not move. In other words, the thing that creates this fluctuation is your brain. When the black and white lines next to the circles are in constant transformation, a clear image cannot be presented when your eye is transferred to the brain. The brain takes this image and adapts it to its own moving world.
Our brain, which knows that the shadow is dark, creates this information independently of the image.
In our example above, which of squares A and B is darker? Most people will say that the A-frame is darker. Because square A is dark gray and square B is white. It’s our brain that tells us this, not what we see. Because the color of squares A and B are the same. Color B looks lighter by our brain because it is white and has a shadow on it.
It is possible to see straight lines as crooked.
In the image above, we see that the lines are crooked. We are even faced with an illusion that moves as we look. This is because the squares of different colors are placed at different intervals. The positions of these squares make our brain interpret that the lines in the image are crooked.
Our brain interprets colors itself.
When we look at the image above, we see that there are circles in different colors such as red, yellow, purple. Now take a good look at these circles. All of these circles, which are at different points, above or below the lines on it, are actually the same color. Our brain shows us that the circles are different colors according to the colors on them.
Today we explained to you what causes optical illusion. If you want more content like this, you can write to us in the comments section.
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