Sensation & Perception

Introduction

Sensation and perception are two key components to how we all use our senses to relay to our brain about our surroundings. It allows for us to be aware of the objects and hazards that make up our environment which ultimately allows for the need to trigger survival instincts if necessary. Two of the most important senses that give us the greatest amount of information is our ability to hear sounds and to see our surroundings. However, these two senses are not a full proof function of relaying this message. This blog will explain how the senses hearing and seeing can be used to trick our brain into falling for tricks or illusions that seem to fool us.

Sight

I want to start of by showing you something fairly simple. Take a look at the picture above. Do you see black dots popping up within the white circles? Does it disappear whenever you look directly at it? This is because the black dots are not actually there, rather they are just simply your brain believing that it is therefore it allows you to see it. This is due to something called lateral inhibition. To simplify, lateral inhibition is what happens when more sides of a lighter area is darker, therefore you're brain perceives that the area is actually darker than what it truly is.

Hearing

Our eyes are not the only things that play tricks on us. Our ears can also fool us too. Auditory illusions exist to us in a form that our brain gets fooled yet again. For instance, whenever we hear a distorted message, we are unable to make up the message being revealed to us. However, once we learn what the message is relaying, suddenly it is a lot clearer to hear and understand than it was the first time it was played through. This is because you were able to comprehend what was going to be said and therefore were able to hear the message clearly. Feel free to try it out yourself by clicking on this link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG9HSvNPVKQ


Conclusion

To conclude, our senses allow us to be able to survive in such an ever changing world that we are surrounded by but they also can be the key to how were are fooled in certain situations as well. Our brain can only use the information that it has being given and our brain is not always right in deciphering this information. This is why were our so easily fooled by certain illusions that leave us wondering how it is all possible to make something so simple that we still are unable to comprehend.

Sources

• http://psylux.psych.tu-dresden.de/i1/kaw/diverses%20Material/www.illusionworks.com/html/hermann_grid.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbzL9PxtFf0