Animals could help reveal why humans fall for illusions

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https://theconversation.com/animals-could-help-reveal-why-humans-fall-for-illusions-23957

Summary:
Animals use visual signals (such as their colour patterns) for many purposes, including finding a mate and avoiding being eaten. Thayer was aware of the "optical tricks" used by artists and he argued that animal colouration could similarly create special effects, allowing animals with gaudy colouration to apparently become invisible. Both squares with asterisks are of the same colour, but the square on top of the cube in direct light appears brown whereas the square on the side in shadow appears orange, because the brain adjusts colour perception based on light conditions. Visual illusions, such as the rabbit-duck and café wall are fascinating because they remind us of the discrepancy between perception and reality. Known as colour constancy, this perceptual process can be illustrated by the illusion of the coloured tiles. Visual illusions are a crucial tool for determining what perceptual assumptions animals make about the world around them. The brain uses assumptions and the visual information surrounding an object to adjust the perception of colour accordingly. We still know very little about how animals process visual information so the perceptual effects of many illusions remains untested. For neuroscientists and psychologists, illusions not only reveal how visual scenes are interpreted and mentally reconstructed, they also highlight constraints in our perception.

Reflection:

This article is related to Physiological Psychology class because we learned in class how through our eyes and the optic nerves the information goes to our primary visual cortex, but to understand “what” and “where” we see is a responsibility of the Ventral stream and Dorsal Stream in our brain. However, as it is explained in the article, we often can be tricked by the illusions of the light and shadow, shape and sizes. Our brains understand that what we see is not normal or it is very unusual. In the article, it is also covered that animals using this principle for hunting or protect, they change their skin colors and the enemy sees one thing but in reality, there is something else. This has been developed through evaluation and protection instincts. Humans still develop and try to learn more about human brains, but the illusion is something that is not so easy to figure it out. That is why we get so easy tricked by illusionists.

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