Optical Illusions are just Precognitive Failure.

[swestrup]

Recently a scientist has managed to explain and categorize most optical illusions -- something that hasn't been done before -- by developing a theory that the optical system is trying to show you not what is happening now, but what will be happening in 1/10th of a second, which is how long it takes your brain to perceive and act on an optical stimulus.

Comments

[ellenk.livejournal.com]

That's really cool...and makes a lot of sense.

[hendrikboom.livejournal.com]

I seem to have read that in Nature about five or ten years ago. But it dealt with illusions that involve motion, where timing is important.

The example of the red squares and the vanishing point doesn't need any assumption of motion. THey look as if they are farther away, and so the brain compensated for perspective. Why assume we're moving?