Optical Illusions

Why do we see Illusions ?

The Human brain puts images together because it has learned to expect things, and sometimes the data might get a little confused. We may see an illusion because we know what we are expected to see, even though part of a picture or design may not be completely there. The basis of this is in how we perceive things.

That almost explains everything right there. If our brain and eyes did not function like they do, we would not see illusions like we do.

One example of optical illusion is the television. The television shows us a continuous flow of still pictures, one right after the other. Our eyes along with our brain fill in all of the empty spots. Our brain has learned to expect movement. As a result, our brain can fill in all of the missing pieces and the television appears to be actually moving to you, even though it really isn’t! Optical illusions just trick you into seeing something else. They are an error in our perception of the illusion.

Some of the pictures below are not true optical illusions in the conventional way. Lets just say they are 'pictures with a difference' (some may even be considered as puzzles).

There are many sites on the Internet (besides this one of course), that have examples of illusions. One of the best I have been able to find is the one at www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html. Not only does he include some of the illusions shown on this page, but he goes one step further by explaining what the phenomenon of the Optical Illusion is (in a scientific way, not like my layman's effort above) and why we see things as we do.