Testing Ourselves

The most interesting part of the Perception course, in my opinion, was definitely the idea of illusions. I can be 100% positive that two squares are two different colors, but in the end I will learn that I was wrong all along. However, even after discovering that I was wrong and that the squares are actually the exact same color, I will still see them as being different as I have all along. Many things we believe that we are seeing are actually just illusions of our own brains. This occurs because we do not have any reason not to believe our own brain. However, in the videos below, we can see that our own brain often fools us into thinking something is true when it is not.

Shadows along can control what we thing we are seeing. For example, the first video displays two gray squares that when viewed appear to be a dark gray square on top of a white square. Our brain tricks us into thinking that the square on top is strongly lit and the square on the bottom is in a shadow. However, once the division between the two squares is removed, we can see that they are in fact the same color. This is very similar to illusions we have discussed so far in class; however, the video also adds illusions that we have not learned as a group.

One of the most interesting illusions in these videos, in my opinion, is the foley process. I never knew that there were people who made careers out of creating noises to represent real life situations in order to use in movies. The sound of cheeseburgers falling from the sky in the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is in fact created with wet rags being slapped on the floor of a sound stage. Perhaps when you watch these videos you can see just how difficult it is to trick your own brain into telling you the truth, just as I did.

PART 1:

 

PART 2:



PART 3:

 

ENJOY!!!

-Ashley Millet