What are optical illusions?

Optical illusions are the best proof that our senses can fool us.

Thus, we can return to the old doubt of Descartes and ask ourselves, "How do I know if everything is real and my senses do not deceive me?"

There have been many fields that have tried to investigate what happens to our sense of view at the time in which an optical illusion is presented.

Although advertising has managed to get a good game of this, psychology and ophthalmology, each since its field, has also studied these phenomena.

What are optical illusions?

Optical illusions can make us see nearby objects, when in reality they are far, or vice versa; Also, they can make us believe that there are objects moving, when in reality it is not, among other cases.

Given this, we ask ourselves if it is the object, our visual field or if it will be our brain making a bad play.

For Lazzi and other researchers -in the analysis of the contributions made by optical illusions to different fields of knowledge -these illusions are linked to the senses and what happens is a distortion in perception.

So, optical illusions, using their view as the name implies, would lead us to take reality in a distorted way.

In turn, these illusions can be of a physiological nature, when they derive from the stimulation of eyes or brain, or cognitive cut, when it comes to the knowledge we build about the world.

As we can notice, optical illusions do not only deal with fun figures, although they can be, but it compromises much more, since it constitutes A fascinating entry to a world in which we can question how much we know about reality itself.

Optical illusions can make us perceive the reality of different ways, either by visual overestimulation, through color, brightness, movement, dazzling, among others.

If the root of the illusion is cognitive, then we can see several figures in the same plane.

In any case, Optical illusions make our senses confuse and capture something that does not really exist, or that we see it partially and not completely, which is because the brain and the sense of sight work together.

But, despite being called "optics", the view is not the only one deceived, but the It is also confused, Well, the eyes emit information to the brain and this is not clear about how it should act, so it strives to try several times.

This is what has made optical illusions divided into two groups, those of physiological origin and those of cognitive nature.

Types of optical illusions

The types of optical illusions are the following:

1. Physiological optical illusions: They arise due to repetition, or excess stimulus. The flicker, luminosity, movement, color or inclination influences. It can occur due to tiredness in the retina, astigmatism, irradiation, among others. Neural and sensory signals are altered. An example of this illusion is the binocular rivalry in which minimum separations, at the horizontal level, create an idea of ​​depth.
2. Cognitive Optical Illusions: They take place when the brain makes a misinterpretation of the information received through the eyes. These conclusions are created unconsciously based on the preconceived idea of ​​the world.

These cognitive illusions are divided into others:

• Ambiguities: made up of objects or images that generate an interruption in interpretations. It occurs because the brain tries to organize what it observes, but some groups are ambiguous, such as the classic example of the duck/rabbit, in which you can see an image with both forms.
• Distortions: or errors in the length, size, angles, curvature or any similar property. It is usual to find it in paintings, drawings and photographs in which some aspects are modified and in the end the image seems to be three -dimensional, for example.
• Paradoxes: whose center are impossible objects, such as those made by the artist M.C Escher, who created surprising endless stairs and imaginary worlds.
• Fictions: In these illusions, the mental state is altered and images are perceived that are not really existential in the plane.

Reference to optical illusions actually leads us to reach physical reality to install in mental reality.

In this sense, Illusions can lead us to question us if it is possible to trust all the data provided by the senses, or if reality is as we think we know it.

Regardless of the answer, what we can trust is in the fact that perception is a complex issue to delve.

Have fun with these intelligence and logic games

Bibliography

• Barbón, j. J. (2012). Optical illusions above (s. XIX). Archives of the Spanish Ophthalmology Society, 87(3), 97-98.
• Gibilisco, s. (1991). Optical illusions: puzzles, paradoxes and enigmas (No. 080 S45Y v. 5).
• Lazzari, l. L., Moulia, p. Yo., & Gervasoni, A. Yo. (2016). Contributions of optical illusions to different fields of knowledge. CIMBAGE Notebooks, (18), 81-107.
• Paladini, a. (2019). Optical illusions: body and distortion (Dissertation Doctoral, Eastern University).