Human Perception and Illusions, Essay Example

The ease with which humans are subject to visual and other types of illusions suggests that the world is not necessarily the way we perceive it.  “Illusions, such as the mirages that appear in the desert are caused by trickery of the sense, leading us to believe there is something out there when this is not the case” (Biology-Online.org, 2000, par. 9).  It is clear that our senses can definitely be tricked into telling the brain there is something that exists, when it does not.  Likewise, these tricked senses can alter the way we view, hear, or experience the world around us.  “Errors of perception [phenomena of illusions] can be due to knowledge being inappropriate or being misapplied” (Gregory, 1997, p. 1122).  Originally, scientists believed that these perception errors or illusions were caused by unfortunate mental disorders within the human brain.  Because we can all be subject to seeing, hearing or experiencing illusions, it is safe to assume that not every person has a mental disorder.  Furthermore, this also forces us to examine the multiple ways in which we perceive the external world around us and question what is real and what is an illusion.

The original statement that the world around us may not be exactly how we perceive it is definitely a possibility.  Many examples of this exist, such as the many different perspectives that exist around the scene of a crash.  The scenario that one person saw may not necessarily be what another person witnessed.  Therefore, it is very difficult for us to know what is real and what is an illusion.  However, if nothing is truly as we perceive it then perhaps we are all experiencing some form of mental illness, which means that mental disorders may actually be closer to the truth than what we see in everyday life.  If we take this statement as being true, then the world around us changes and we no longer have a real sense of normal or right and wrong.  In order for us to remain sane, we must accept that the world around us is exactly as we perceive it.

References

Biology-Online.com. (2000, January 01). Neurology of illusions. Retrieved on October 22, 2009, from Web site: http://www.biology-online.org/8/10_illusions.htm

Gregory, R.L. (1997). Knowledge in perception and illusion. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 352, 1121 – 1128. Retrieved on October 22, 2009, from Web site: http://www.richardgregory.org/papers/knowl_illusion/knowledge-in-perception.htm

Ward, M. (n.d.). Some limits on human perception. Retrieved on October 22, 2009, from Web site: http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~matt/courses/cs563/talks/perception.html