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 connection between the material and mental in vision is
incomprehensible and apparently must ever remain so. Objects emit or
reflect light and the optical mechanism known as the eye focuses images of
the objects upon the retina. Messages are then carried to the brain where
certain molecular vibrations take place. The physiologist records certain
physical and chemical effects in the muscles, nerves, and brain and
behold! there appears consciousness, sensations, thoughts, desires, and
volitions. How? and, Why? are questions which may never be answered.
It is dangerous to use the word _never_, but the ultimate answers to those
questions appear to be so remote that it discourages one from proceeding
far over the hazy course which leads toward them. In fact, it does not
appreciably further the aims of this book to devote much space to efforts
toward explanation. In covering this vast and complex field there are
multitudes of facts, many hypotheses, and numerous theories from which to
choose. Judgment dictates that of the limited space most of it be given
to the presentation of representative facts. This is the reasoning which
led to the formulation of the outline of chapters.
Owing to the vast complex beyond the physical phenomena, physical
measurements upon objects and space which have done so much toward
building a solid foundation for scientific knowledge fail ultimately to
provide an exact mathematical picture of that which is perceived. Much of
the author's previous work has been devoted to the physical realities but
the ever-present differences between physical and perceptive realities
have emphasized the need for considering the latter as well.
Illusions are legion. They greet the careful observer on every hand. They
play a prominent part in our appreciation of the physical world. Sometimes
they must be avoided, but often they may be put to work in various arts.
Their widespread existence and their forcefulness make visual perception
the final judge in decoration, in painting, in architecture, in
landscaping, in lighting, and in other activities. The ultimate limitation
of measurements with physical instruments leaves this responsibility to
the intellect. The mental being is impressed with things as perceived, not
with things as they are. It is believed that this intellectual or
judiciary phase which plays such a part in visual perception will be best
brought out by examples of various types of static illusions coupled with
certain facts pertaining to the eye and to the visual process as a whole.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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