when you look at this painting what do
you see
a woman looking out a window how about
now
this famous painting by Salvador Dali is
based on something called the Lincoln
illusion the effect shows how blurring
pixelated images can make it easier to
recognize faces optical illusions are
fun to look at but they can also tell us
a lot about our sense of sight so how
does that work exactly and is it really
true that seeing is believing the human
eye is pretty extraordinary it has more
than 2 million moving parts and can move
faster than any other muscle at less
than 1/100 of a second but when it comes
to your vision the way you perceive the
world is actually thanks to your brain
first light enters the eye through the
pupil the muscles behind the iris
squeeze and stretch the lens to focus
the light onto the back of the eye this
is the retina the retina is covered with
sensitive photoreceptors called rods for
dim light and cones for bright light the
focus light hits the retina at a small
pit called the fovea which has the
highest density of cone receptors we
often compare our eyes to cameras but
they actually work quite differently our
peripheral vision is very low resolution
we only see in full resolution at the
small point of our fovea
but we barely notice it because our eyes
are constantly refocusing on what we
want to see like a high-resolution
spotlight pixels or picture elements are
the tiny illuminated squares that make
up a digital display if two pixels are
close to your eye the retina sends two
signals for the brain to interpret
farther away two pixels prompt one
signal that’s why a TV screen can have a
lower pixel density than a smartphone
but seen from farther away it still
appears seamless when stimulated the
rods and cones send signals to the optic
nerve and back to the brain then all of
that visual information is processed to
create the picture you see of the world
unlike a camera your brain can actually
fill in missing information for example
your eye is automatically blank every
three to four seconds
in fact that means your eyes are
technically closed for roughly 10% of
your waking hours thankfully your brain
fills in those gaps so you don’t feel
like the lights are flickering on and
off all day long there’s a lot we still
don’t understand about the complexities
of our visual system as technologies
continue to innovate the line between
illusion and reality could start to blur
and when it comes to how we see the
world there might be more than meets the
eye
you [Music]
you see
a woman looking out a window how about
now
this famous painting by Salvador Dali is
based on something called the Lincoln
illusion the effect shows how blurring
pixelated images can make it easier to
recognize faces optical illusions are
fun to look at but they can also tell us
a lot about our sense of sight so how
does that work exactly and is it really
true that seeing is believing the human
eye is pretty extraordinary it has more
than 2 million moving parts and can move
faster than any other muscle at less
than 1/100 of a second but when it comes
to your vision the way you perceive the
world is actually thanks to your brain
first light enters the eye through the
pupil the muscles behind the iris
squeeze and stretch the lens to focus
the light onto the back of the eye this
is the retina the retina is covered with
sensitive photoreceptors called rods for
dim light and cones for bright light the
focus light hits the retina at a small
pit called the fovea which has the
highest density of cone receptors we
often compare our eyes to cameras but
they actually work quite differently our
peripheral vision is very low resolution
we only see in full resolution at the
small point of our fovea
but we barely notice it because our eyes
are constantly refocusing on what we
want to see like a high-resolution
spotlight pixels or picture elements are
the tiny illuminated squares that make
up a digital display if two pixels are
close to your eye the retina sends two
signals for the brain to interpret
farther away two pixels prompt one
signal that’s why a TV screen can have a
lower pixel density than a smartphone
but seen from farther away it still
appears seamless when stimulated the
rods and cones send signals to the optic
nerve and back to the brain then all of
that visual information is processed to
create the picture you see of the world
unlike a camera your brain can actually
fill in missing information for example
your eye is automatically blank every
three to four seconds
in fact that means your eyes are
technically closed for roughly 10% of
your waking hours thankfully your brain
fills in those gaps so you don’t feel
like the lights are flickering on and
off all day long there’s a lot we still
don’t understand about the complexities
of our visual system as technologies
continue to innovate the line between
illusion and reality could start to blur
and when it comes to how we see the
world there might be more than meets the
eye
you [Music]
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