Optical Illusions

Gestalt psychology is a topic that is a bit off of the path that I usually take. Where my usual topics are related to personality theories and the like, the Gestalt psychology is a set of rules and observations that relate more to the way our brain works to process the information that we perceive.

In the Gestalt package, there are six laws:

• Law of good figure - Stimulus patterns are seen so that the perceived structures are as simple as possible.
• Law of similarity – Similar items are grouped together.
• Law of good continuation – Points that, when connected create a striate or smooth curve, are seen as belonging together.
• Law of nearness – Things near one another appear to be grouped
• Law of common fate – Things moving in the same direction appear to be grouped together.
• Law of familiarity – Things are more likely to form groups if those groups would be familiar or meaningful.

These laws, along with other attributes of our perception such as motion and color perception, can be used to explain and create interesting and fun optical illusions found at your local internet web site, such as here.

I have personally observed something interesting though. Most people that I have talked with about optical illusions said that while some optical illusions seem to work on them, others do not come across as strongly. This made me think that perhaps there was a natural susceptibility to optical illusions. I looked into it a bit, and found that there has indeed been some research into the effects of unilateral brain lesions and their effect on the perception of optical illusions. The abstract of the research can be found here. This research shows that some lesions on the brain do affect the strength of the illusions. As a side note, the research also shows that the hemisphere of the brain in which the lesion is placed does not seem to matter.

Anyway, this has me wondering about biological susceptibility. I think that some people are just more prone to some optical illusions. The one question that I keep asking myself is: Is susceptibility to optical illusions a sign that one's perception is stronger or weaker? Lesions weakening the perception of illusions would suggest that the strength of an optical illusion is a sign of healthy perception, but in some cases, I can see the advantages of not being confused or tricked by particular optical illusions. I suppose I am taking a far too broad and simplistic a stance on "optical illusions." Many play on different aspects of perception, and likely function on differing parts of the brain.

The illusion that gets to me the most is the breathing box, while the hidden bird illusion does not work on me. I can see it no matter what. What illusions are your favorites? Which illusions work well on you, and what ones are lost on your perception?

Next week I will discuss Ellis's fifth trait, flexibility, and the time after that I will start talking about the "Big Five." As always, thanks for reading.

Ellis’s fifth trait of a healthy personality: Flexibility.