Seven Strange Quirks Of Human Vision

In this study, racial biases also came into play. The team —Ruben Azevedo, Sarah Garfinkel, Hugo Critchley and Manos Tsakiris — showed images of either black or white individuals holding either a gun or a mobile phone. When the images were presented on the heartbeat, rather than between heartbeats, they were 10% more likely to see the object as a gun when it was held by a black person. The researchers think this effect might explain at least some shootings of black unarmed men by police officers. Another study, published a year earlier by Maria Lojowska’s team, found that when we’re afraid, we perceive some aspects of the world more clearly, but at the cost of ignoring much of the detail. How to mess with your colleagues’ minds Many optical illusions are presented in 2D, on paper, or on a computer screen. But in 2018, a mind-bending 3D chair illusion showed itself in the office of Nick Scott-Samuel at the University of Bristol. The set of stackable chairs seem to be arranged in an impossible position — a little like an Escher drawing, only stranger. This is because, Scott-Samuel and his colleagues report, the brain gets confused about apparent depth cues when viewing the chairs at an angle. Just four chairs are apparently enough to achieve the effect. So next time you’re early for a meeting, you know what to do… Emma Young (@EmmaELYoung) is a staff writer at BPS Research Digest For further reading, check out this month’s edition of The Psychologist, ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Feature Illusions Perception Source Type: blogs