whether it’s the bright lights and
dazzling colors of the Las Vegas Strip
or the blinding Sun that forms this
desert Mirage all too often it’s the
simple illusions of light and shadow
that warp your brains perspective of
reality to show you what we mean let’s
play a game take a look at this desert
halfway around the world what do you see
a bunch of big camels right except there
are no big camels those camels are
really shadows thrown by the actual
camels which are the light brown figures
on the sand this photo by National
Geographic photographer George Steinmetz
is a perfect example of how your brain
makes snap judgments about perspective
your brain has a tendency to assume that
whatever you’re looking at must be at
eye level
after all you’re probably only used to
seeing camels from one angle the ground
which is why you might have mistaken
these black shadows for actual camels
but it only takes a split second of
closer analysis for your brain to
perform what scientists call mental
rotation this is your brains way of
creating a 3d image of what you’re
seeing and then mentally changing the
angle to give you a better point of view
whether it’s a deceptive camera angle
forced perspective or a trick of light
and shadow the slightest change in
perspective can cause your brain to leap
to false conclusions so you’re about to
see this next experiment take a look at
this image full of bumps and craters how
many bumps do you see go ahead and count
them
got your answer did you save for bumps
keep a close eye on the image because
we’re going to turn it upside down
now how many bumps do you count has the
image changed to show six bumps
how did flipping this image 180 degrees
change the craters into bumps and the
bumps into craters it all has to do with
your brain and the Sun here to explain
is Professor Jim cone of the University
of Virginia over hundreds of thousands
of years of human evolution people use
the Sun to help determine time of day
and location so your brain instinctively
understands light comes from a single
source above us and that shadows are
created by the lights direction when
your brain sees lighter shading on top
of the circle and darker shading at the
bottom it assumes the darker shading is
a shadow cast by a light source above
and behind the object meaning that
circle must be about but in the case
where there’s darker shading up top that
means light isn’t hitting that area
which is a signal to your brain that
this circle must be a crater light
shading and shadows help your brain give
three-dimensional shape to the flat 2d
image of the world projected onto your
retinas to enhance that 3d perspective
your brain also analyzes the distance
depth and height of everything around
you
dazzling colors of the Las Vegas Strip
or the blinding Sun that forms this
desert Mirage all too often it’s the
simple illusions of light and shadow
that warp your brains perspective of
reality to show you what we mean let’s
play a game take a look at this desert
halfway around the world what do you see
a bunch of big camels right except there
are no big camels those camels are
really shadows thrown by the actual
camels which are the light brown figures
on the sand this photo by National
Geographic photographer George Steinmetz
is a perfect example of how your brain
makes snap judgments about perspective
your brain has a tendency to assume that
whatever you’re looking at must be at
eye level
after all you’re probably only used to
seeing camels from one angle the ground
which is why you might have mistaken
these black shadows for actual camels
but it only takes a split second of
closer analysis for your brain to
perform what scientists call mental
rotation this is your brains way of
creating a 3d image of what you’re
seeing and then mentally changing the
angle to give you a better point of view
whether it’s a deceptive camera angle
forced perspective or a trick of light
and shadow the slightest change in
perspective can cause your brain to leap
to false conclusions so you’re about to
see this next experiment take a look at
this image full of bumps and craters how
many bumps do you see go ahead and count
them
got your answer did you save for bumps
keep a close eye on the image because
we’re going to turn it upside down
now how many bumps do you count has the
image changed to show six bumps
how did flipping this image 180 degrees
change the craters into bumps and the
bumps into craters it all has to do with
your brain and the Sun here to explain
is Professor Jim cone of the University
of Virginia over hundreds of thousands
of years of human evolution people use
the Sun to help determine time of day
and location so your brain instinctively
understands light comes from a single
source above us and that shadows are
created by the lights direction when
your brain sees lighter shading on top
of the circle and darker shading at the
bottom it assumes the darker shading is
a shadow cast by a light source above
and behind the object meaning that
circle must be about but in the case
where there’s darker shading up top that
means light isn’t hitting that area
which is a signal to your brain that
this circle must be a crater light
shading and shadows help your brain give
three-dimensional shape to the flat 2d
image of the world projected onto your
retinas to enhance that 3d perspective
your brain also analyzes the distance
depth and height of everything around
you
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