Question

Most people are familiar with visual illusions such as the Muller-Lyer illusion or the moon illusion (http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/ ). However, in reality it is difficult to define Illusion rigorously because in a sense all of what we see is an illusion. Explain and discuss. Provide empirical evidence to support your statements. Include citations and references. (Be sure to use APA format for your citation and reference).

Answer 1

However, in reality it is difficult to define Illusion rigorously because in a sense all of what we see is an illusion.

It is difficult to define illusion since whatever we are seeing is an illusion. Illusion can be defined as an experience which is interpreted in a wrong way. Or , it may be defined as a situation where appearance or impression of a substance is deceptive. When there are distorted senses or when the interpretation of something is different than others. Why, the perspective of others is taken here, is because whatever we are seeing is an illusion; more specifically optical illusion. The way we see colours or perceive colours is in the light that we are watching it. At the moment, this is white light. As soon as the white light is altered by any other background the perception of colour changes. For example, if we view a green coloured object in white light, in red light it might look purple or wine in appearance. Another example is the perception of parallel lines. For example, in a plain background parallel lines look parallel, but if the background is changed with black and white concentric circles, the parallel lines appear distorted. In this case, if someone else is viewing the same distorted lines, we would think that our perception is correct since it matches someone else’s and we would think of this as reality and not illusion. Hence, whatever we look at is an illusion and the perception of illusion comes with respect to others.