Sensation and Perception

To begin, I am going to provide you with the definition of both sensation and perception. Sensation is a physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens to or comes into contact with the body. Perception is the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. It is with these two abilities that the body can react to its surroundings accordingly. However, despite how keen your sensation and perception is it can easily be fooled by optic illusions. An optic  illusions is simply something that is incorrectly interpreted by vision. What are some examples of these illusions that fool the brain? How, also, is the brain so easily tricked?

Optic illusions cause your brain to ultimately focus falsely on objects. Because we have two eyes in different locations, the image focused on each retina is from a slightly different angle, providing us with our perception of 3D space (Privitera 2). The 3D perception is what is fooled in street art illusions. These illusions consists of painting graffiti along either sidewalks, walls, or streets. The illusions must be viewed from a specific angle in order to completely fool the brain. 
    

Another example of an illusion is the famous magic trick. Magic tricks fool the brain by telling the eyes to focus on a specific object. Once the eyes are focused on said object the magician distracts the eyes with other objects to focus on while the main object is changed or altered in some way. However, it seems as if the main object is being changed before your eyes. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j417h2Nw02U
http://illusionoftheyear.com
  

The last illusion I will discuss is called an ambiguous illusion. An ambiguous illusion is a type of drawing, sketch, or painting that takes on the image of multiple things. Your brain is tricked into seeing multiple images from one piece of art. However, most of the time it isn't until someone sees a different image than you that you recognize the art contains two images.




The first image can be viewed as either two old couples looking at each other or a man serenading a woman with a guitar. The second image is either a human skull or a couple kissing. The last image is either a side portrait of a face or the word "liar." 

The way our perceptions and sensations can be fooled is both impressive and aggravating. The brain, though, is what also is being fooled. It was made to interpret what we see correctly in order to benefit the body. For example, if you see your favorite dessert, your brain recognizes it then checks to see if the stomach is hungry. If the stomach relays back to the brain that it is hungry than the you "crave" the dessert. However, these optic illusions are in no way beneficial. Your brain will look at graffiti illusions and tell the body to "avoid the giant alligator" or "you must walk around or on the bridge in order not to fall to your death." In addition, magic tricks temporarily distract in order to change the bigger picture. This leaves the brain puzzled. Ambiguous illusions force your eyes to see two separate images at the same time. Illusions bring truth to the phrase, "Things aren't always what they seem." Even some of the most trustful things, your eyes, can be easily deceived!


Other videos related to the topic:

https://hsutx.instructure.com/courses/3079/pages/week-4-readings-sensation-and-perception-3?module_item_id=89229

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miym86d-w4I

Citations
“Best Illusion of the Year Contest.” Best Illusion of the Year Contest, 2017, illusionoftheyear.com/.
Sensation and Perception Powerpoint

Privitera, A. J. (2015). Sensation and perception. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. DOI:nobaproject.com.