Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications — John Shaqi
Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and ApplicationsLuckiesh, Matthew
Science
Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications
Luckiesh, Matthew
Optical illusions
The explanation of the foregoing is not difficult. The pin-head is so
close to the eye that the image cannot be focused upon the retina;
however, it is in a very favorable position to cast a shadow upon the
retina, the light-source being the pin-hole with a bright background.
Light streaming through the pin-hole into the eye casts an erect shadow of
the pin-head upon the retina, and this erect image is projected into space
and inverted in the process by the effect of the lens. The latter is not
operative during the casting of the shadow because the pin-head is too
close to the lens, as already stated. It is further proved to be outward
projection of the retinal image (the shadow) because by multiplying the
number of pin-holes (the light-sources) there are also a corresponding
number of shadows.
The foregoing not only illustrates the inversion of the image but again
emphasizes the fact that we do not see retinal images. Even the "stars"
which we see on pressing the eye-lid or on receiving a blow on the eye are
projected into space. The "motes" which we see in the visual field while
gazing at the sky are defects in the eye-media, and these images are
projected into space. We do not see anything in the eye. The retinal image
impresses the retina in some definite manner and the impression is carried
to the brain by the optic nerve. The intellect then refers or projects
this impression outward into space as an external image. The latter would
be a facsimile of the physical object if there were no illusions but the
fact that there are illusions indicates that errors are introduced
somewhere along the path from and to the object.
It is interesting to speculate whether the first visual impression of a
new-born babe is "projected outward" or is perceived as in the eye. It is
equally futile to conjecture in this manner because there is no
indication that the time will come when the baby can answer us
immediately upon experiencing its first visual impression. The period of
infancy increases with progress up the scale of animal life and this
lengthening is doubtless responsible and perhaps necessary for the
development of highly specialized sense-organs. Incidentally, suppose a
blind person to be absolutely uneducated by transferred experience and
that he suddenly became a normal adult and able to see. What would he say
about his first visual impression? Apparently such a subject is
unobtainable. The nearest that such a case had been approached is the case
of a person born blind, whose sight has been restored. This person has
acquired much experience with the external world through other senses. It
has been recorded that such a person, after sight was restored, appeared
to think that external objects "touched" the eyes. Only through visual
experience is this error in judgment rectified.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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