Key to all optical illusions discovered

[UM-Bot]

Humans can see into the future, says a cognitive scientist. It's nothing like the alleged predictive powers of Nostradamus, but we do get a glimpse of events one-tenth of a second before they occur. And the mechanism behind that can also explain why we are tricked by optical illusions.

Researcher Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York says it starts with a neural lag that most everyone experiences while awake.

View: Full Article | Source: Live Science

[Kamazar]

I wonder if there's some way to use the neural delays to see further into the future. But then the actual light has to hit the retina's... I wish they'd explain a little more on how we see the future.

[yallways]

What? Did some high school geek come up with this ridiculous idea? There are several reasons why this explanation is completely void of any truth.

1. Due to the fact that you are not actually moving toward the object, you are not actually seeing a tenth of a second into any future. You are merely projecting a possible future at the most. Nothing real though. People see those types of futures all the time. It's called daydreaming.

2. If the circles fool your brain into thinking it's moving forward causing the lines to bend outward, then it would continue to fool your brain a tenth of a second into the future as well... meaning that the lines will continue to bow outward even further again and again. This is because for each tenth of a second that passes, you are apparently seeing a new image in your mind.

3. Despite an illusion; common sense, logic and deduction will compensate for such an explanation after a moment and cause the lines to straighten out again in a matter of a second or two of looking at it.

4. This theory only works when comparing it to only specific images. Not all optical illusions have anything to do with projected motion which means that there needs to be an alternative explanation for several different types of illusions. There should be only one.

Edited June 12, 2008 by yallways

[Paracelse]

What? Did some high school geek come up with this ridiculous idea? There are several reasons why this explanation is completely void of any truth.

1. Due to the fact that you are not actually moving toward the object, you are not actually seeing a tenth of a second into any future. You are merely projecting a possible future at the most. Nothing real though. People see those types of futures all the time. It's called daydreaming.

2. If the circles fool your brain into thinking it's moving forward causing the lines to bend outward, then it would continue to fool your brain a tenth of a second into the future as well... meaning that the lines will continue to bow outward even further again and again. This is because for each tenth of a second that passes, you are apparently seeing a new image in your mind.

3. Despite an illusion; common sense, logic and deduction will compensate for such an explanation after a moment and cause the lines to straighten out again in a matter of a second or two of looking at it.

4. This theory only works when comparing it to only specific images. Not all optical illusions have anything to do with projected motion which means that there needs to be an alternative explanation for several different types of illusions. There should be only one.

Something very strange happen to me this afternoon, I was working on my online book business, in my storage room. I was working of my laptop and I was ready to leave. I looked around, pick up the padlock and lowered the door. Just as the door was closing, two swords I had near the hinge (I used to be an SCA member) fell. I told myself they wouldn't go any further and locked. I left and went to my favorite coffee shop, to relax a bit when I opened my bag.. the power supply of my laptop was missing. It's not the first time something like this happen to me. I wish I could pay a little more attention to the events of my life as it seems I get warning about some fallout very often, as if something outside of me tries to warn me. In this case, the sword were very secure against the wall, as they were for the past several weeks. What move them? Of course, one could say the repeated vibration of a closing door could have moved them, but why on the day I was forgetting the power supply. I guess we'll never know. Jung was right about one thing: There are no accidents.