Seeing Is Deceiving
Exhibit [Return to listing page]
Blue Wing, Level 2
Vision is a complex process, and the human brain has developed some very clever shortcuts to help us sort the useful visual information from the useless. Many of the illusions in this exhibit exploit these shortcuts for an entertaining learning experience.
Seeing seems to be the ultimate form of understanding, but vision (and other senses) can be full of deceptive tricks. Visitors to this exhibit will encounter dozens of examples of images that on closer examination are not what they appear to be at first glance. Lines that look curved are in fact straight; shapes that look like they are different sizes are actually the same.
Hands-on demonstrations allow visitors to "take apart" illusions by sliding various layers back and forth with surprising results: black and white pattern disks reveal colors when you spin them; random patterns reveal spirals and circles when you overlay them; still images appear to blink, and pictures become invisible and then reappear.
There are also two dozen reproductions of paintings and drawings by artists who use perceptual tricks to create astonishing images of impossible buildings and ambiguous figures. In addition, four computer stations allow you to delve more deeply into these and other illusions and help you understand some of their underlying cognitive principles.
Support Provided By:
