RESEARCHERS have developed an illusion that will make you see something that isn’t really there.
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) are using this video to explain a bizarre phenomenon in the brain.
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Scientists in California have developed the illusionCredit: Caltech
The video shows a series of beeps and flashes in quick succession.
You must stare at a cross in the middle of the screen and watch to see how many flashes appear along the bottom.
Most people will see three flashes, the same as the number of beeps, but when the video is viewed without the beeps, only two flashes are seen.
This is because our brains play a trick on us to fill in the gaps in our memories.
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The beeps trick your brain into thinking there are three flashesCredit: Caltech
The illusion is referred to by scientists as the ‘Illusory Rabbit’.
A Caltech spokesperson said: “Though only two flashes are played, most people viewing the illusion perceive three flashes, with an illusory flash coinciding with the second beep and appearing to be located in the center of the screen”.
This phenomenon in the human brain is called ‘postdictive processing’.
Noelle Stiles, lead author of the study told Caltech: “When the final beep-flash pair is later presented, the brain assumes that it must have missed the flash associated with the unpaired beep and quite literally makes up the fact that there must have been a second flash that it missed.
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In reality there are only two flashes but your brain fills in the gapsCredit: Caltech
“This already implies a postdictive mechanism at work.”
She added: “But even more importantly, the only way that you could perceive the illusory flash would be if the information that comes later in time—the final beep-flash combination—is being used to reconstruct the most likely location of the illusory flash as well.”
This study explains how postdiction contributes to how our brains combine different senses to interpret our environment.
The reason for these illusions is so our brains can make sense of past events, often filling in the gaps we may not have actually seen.
Baffling optical illusion by mathmetician leaves arrow ALWAYS point right
Ms Stiles continued: “Illusions are a really interesting window into the brain.
“By investigating illusions, we can study the brain’s decision-making process. For example, how does the brain determine reality with information from multiple senses that is at times noisy and conflicting?
“The brain uses assumptions about the environment to solve this problem.
“When these assumptions happen to be wrong, illusions can occur as the brain tries to make the best sense of a confusing situation.”
Shinsuke Shimojo, a researcher in the study, explained: “Postdiction may sound mysterious, but it is not—one must consider how long it takes the brain to process earlier visual stimuli, during which time subsequent stimuli from a different sense can affect or modulate the first.
“These illusions are among the very rare cases where sound affects vision, not vice versa, indicating dynamic aspects of neural processing that occur across space and time.”
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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education