Illusions of perception in psychology. Where do they arise, what is it, how can you practically use it, examples

In psychology, under the term "Illusion of perception" understand the "distortion" of the present. In conventional terminology, this is called a sensor stimulus. Interpretation of reality can be contrary to objectivity, general norms and rules of behavior. Illusion differs from hallucinations in that in the first case it is a distortion of reality by the brain, and in the second - by mental deviations.

Definition

Evaluation of perceptions received experimental attention as early as 1899, when people were asked to evaluate foods by weight. The second time, the weight seemed heavier than what the primary data showed. The illusion was due to the expectation of a person who concentrated on the result.

On a second attempt, the expectations were obvious, and the person could already calculate the strength to lift a certain weight. The same experiment was conducted by R. Muller, who asked people to estimate the weight of a small box and a large box, which had the same mass.

As a result, psychologists have deduced the concept of illusion. These are false or distorted data that are perceived by the subject due to sensations or personal perceptions that are not valid.

Müller introduced the relative concept of such phenomena in his Würzburg school of psychology. Initially, experiments were carried out with a horizontal straight line. He put out 2 straight lines, at the end of the 1st of which there were branches. It seemed longer than the other. And I.

Rock from the European School of Psychology in the early 20th century. suggested that an illusion is an anomalous phenomenon: mirages, visual distortions and more. The opinions of psychologists from the Gestalt school clearly fit this description.

Perceptual illusions in psychology are the result of an effect that has a longer lasting effect on the human psyche. Representatives of Lyer's theory came to this definition.

He has worked with people who have an olfactory illusion:

• Any smell produced conflicting associations that reminded subjects of negative memories.
• The olfactory structure was disrupted due to the poor functioning of the receptors in the nose.
• The olfactory fatigue effect is a new definition that has been confirmed by the loss of the sense of smell. At first, the pungent smell seems unbearable, and then the person gets used to it.
• Disguise is an attempt to create the illusion of deception. This concept was introduced before the start of the experiment by Müller.

As a result, psychotherapists of different schools identified the basic principles of the appearance of illusory perceptions in humans, designating each category of feelings with special features.

Views

In the course of the experiments, psychotherapists from various schools identified classifications and types based on the reactions of the subjects and the conditions of the tests.

The class of illusory experiences
Illusion-distorting incentives	The illusion of sensations arises when the environment changes. A person feels a stimulus on the way to a set goal, but loses it when he perceives the road differently than he expected.
Auditory phenomena	The impression of sound, known as the Doppler effect, occurs against the backdrop of space-time situations. This means that a person hears a sound higher if its source moves away. The effect of the phenomenon was proved by the scientist Christian Doppler. He made people listen to the sound of the train driver's whistle. The further he got from the subject, the higher he seemed to them. This experiment was carried out in 1842, and at the same time physicists noted the factors influencing the sensations of people when the wind blows (from them or in their direction).
Auditory illusion by Paul Thomas Young	In 1928 g. an American psychologist identified a class of illusions due to hearing impairment. The name entered the classification of illusory perceptions. In his opinion, the process of sound localization affects the imagery of thinking. The psychologist installed 2 pipes towards each ear of the person. Sound waves were felt differently when the subject was in different surroundings. Some wave vibrations were perceived as impacts. The higher the frequency, the worse the person felt. Then such techniques were borrowed to develop the torture of prisoners.
Optical illusions
Optical phenomena	Numerous optical illusions are produced by the refraction (bending) of light as it travels through one substance to another.
Cheyenne / Photolia	The rainbow is also the result of refraction. When the sun's rays pass through the rain, the droplets divide (refract) the white light into its constituent colors. When beams of white light from any source pass through a prism, they are refracted to create a spectrum of colors, like a rainbow on a summer morning. Another illusion that depends on atmospheric conditions is a mirage, in which, for example, a vision of a body of water is created by light passing through layers of air above the heated surface of a highway. Nearby objects may even appear to be reflected in it. Under certain conditions, complex mirages that look like cities, forests, or unidentified flying objects can appear on the horizon.
Visual perceptual illusions	When the observer is confronted with a visual assortment of points, the brain can group points that "belong together." These groupings are created based on things like observed similarities (eg, red versus black dots), proximity, general direction of movement, set of perception.
Closing the illusion	The term used in Gestalt psychology means the illusion of a process when an incomplete stimulus is seen as a whole. Thus, a person unconsciously seeks to complete (close) a triangle or square that has a gap in one of its sides.
Sensory illusions
Stimulating the senses	Many sensory illusions can be described as consequences of overstimulation of the senses. Sensitivity can be measured as the perceived intensity (threshold or limen) of the corresponding stimulus. The smallest detectable stimulus is called the absolute threshold, while the smallest detectable change in stimulus intensity is called the difference threshold.

Some of these false impressions can arise from factors beyond the control of the individual:

• characteristic behavior of light waves, due to which a pencil in a glass of water appears to be curved;
• due to inadequate information (as in poor lighting conditions);
• due to the functional and structural characteristics of the sensory apparatus (for example, distortion in the shape of a lens in the eye).

Such visual illusions are experienced by every sighted person, and they are not mental disorders.

Nature of occurrence

Perceptual illusions in psychology are special perceptual experiences in which information arising from "real" external stimuli, leads to misperception or false perception of the object or event from which it originates stimulation.

Another group of illusions arises from misinterpretation, which is taken from adequate sensory signals. In such illusions, sensory impressions contradict the "facts of reality" or do not convey their "true" character.

In these cases, the perceiver makes a mistake in processing sensory information:

• The error occurs in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
• This may be the result of competing sensory information, psychologically significant distorting influences, or previous expectations (mental attitude). For example, drivers who see their own headlights reflected in a shop window may experience the illusion that another car is approaching, even if they know there is no road there.
• Intersensory Effects - Feelings combine to produce a shared, unitary, or integrated perception. In the dining room, for example, visual array on the table, colloquial tones or background music, and tactile sensations, aromas and flavors of food combine to enhance the taste sensations, and each sense contributes to this.
• Physiologically, taste and smell seem to be particularly susceptible to inter-sensory influences (interdependently). In other situations, sight, hearing, touch, and often smell and tasting are used to identify an object or determine location based on mutual perception.
• However, sometimes stimulating one sense can activate an illusory sensation that is usually perceived by another sense, or a strong sensation can mask the perception of other senses.

Synesthesia is a "crossing" of feelings.

For example, "color hearing", in which people say that certain sounds cause them to actually perceive certain colors, occurs relatively often:

• Some musicians report that they see certain colors whenever they hear given tones and musical passages.
• Poets sometimes claim to hear sounds or musical tones when they see words, images, and colors.
• Synesthesia can be caused by drugs, and in rare mental disorders, patients may not be able to tell if they are seeing or hearing.

In other situations, the nature of the illusion of perception determines the area where external factors were caused and felt.

Functions and role

Typically, an illusion was considered a special function of the brain that puts a person in danger. In 1965 g. Soviet scientist R. Grokhov put forward the theory that the subconscious mind receives impulses from the outside in order to protect the body from danger. For example, the phenomenon of seeing what is not (deja vu).

It is necessary for the brain to have a purpose in conditions remote from those needed for a comfortable life. If you learn the nature of such phenomena, it seems as if the brain itself suggests that somewhere nearby is "salvation" (hidden from the real eyes of the objects that the brain thinks about).

Intersensory facilitation and competition is the only role of all illusion within the human body.

Stimulation through one sense can enhance the function of the other:

• Watching a boat swaying on the waves can bring a sense of balance to the observer on the pier to the point at which he causes motion sickness.
• Painting an arctic scene of frost and snow can cause the cold or shivering sensations that goose meat induces.
• Explosions or shots can give the observer the illusion of being hit.
• The image of an appetizing food can evoke a sense of taste and smell.

These situations are a consequence of the protective function of the body. While a person is watching, he is a supporter of the situation. As soon as he begins to empathize, sympathize, he experiences the same emotions that a real "sufferer" feels.

In order not to let negative emotions pass through itself “in vain,” the body triggers a reaction of imaginary desire. That is, if a person is not hungry, he can look at food and desire it in spite of his diet or lifestyle. In order not to irritate neuronal cells, the feeling of hunger is triggered. This is necessary in order for a person to stop tormenting himself with the illusion of hunger.

After eating, a hungry person feels full, and any food will no longer be an irritant. The same thing happens with visual illusions. When viewing a constantly swaying object (vessel), the body assumes the role of the object.

Accordingly, the vestibular apparatus, although at rest, feels those visible shocks. As a result, the brain sends an impulse to the outer points of the neurons in order to warn a person of danger - when the movement starts, the balance can be disturbed. The body experiences real emotions while maintaining peace.

Perceptual illusions in psychology are also closely related to organoleptic rivalry, in which one stimulus inhibits the perception of another. As a result, signal conflict can be detected if the sensory information is ambiguous or inconsistent. The same phenomenon is observed in the room tilt experiment.

During the experiment, visual conflicts of feelings with signals from a sense of balance were observed. Conditions of pain, panic, monotony, or fatigue can create conditions in which different feelings mask or suppress each other.

• For example, a witness to a terrifying sight may forget about all sounds.
• Distraction can also raise your pain threshold.
• As in the case of wounded soldiers, whose wounds only become painful after the combat stress has subsided (state of shock). Although in painful shock, people lose consciousness - this is a defensive reaction of the body, which is not ready to endure severe stress, but wants to be saved.
• Similarly, some dentists have used auditory analgesia (masking pain with sound).

Illusions of psychiatric significance are called pseudo-hallucinations, and they occur when feelings of anxiety or fear are projected onto external objects. For example, when a child sees threatening faces or monsters in the shadows at night. A soldier worried about fear may perceive inanimate objects in fear as an attacking enemy.

In literature, the character Don Quixote perceived windmills as enemy knights. Psychiatric patients perceive people as cars, teddy bears and devils. Such illusions are considered abnormalities and require treatment.

Forms of manifestations and physiology

Perceptual illusions are assessed according to the following criteria:

• The volume of illusions. The human ear is usually used to distinguish about 1500 levels of pitch. In terms of loudness, studies with a threshold differential show about 325 separately perceived levels in the area of ​​greatest auditory sensitivity (from 1000 to 4000 cycles per give me a sec).
• For humans, the number of discernible tones is in the hundreds of thousands. However, when 2 sounds are heard in sequence, the intensity or loudness of the 2nd is judged by comparing it to the 1st.
• Thus, noise can sound loud compared to a whisper, and a "deafening" noise can neutralize all other sounds.

A sustained hum prior to an earthquake can overshadow all audible sounds. This is why some people hear the "silence" before a natural disaster.

Separately, it should be said about tactile illusions. The skin contains many "spots" that selectively react to either cold or heat. However, it may happen that a very warm stimulus produces a cold sensation if placed in a location that responds to cold.

This phenomenon can be compared to testing with freshly boiled water, which appears very cold at first and then hot. Thus, when a warm stimulus is perceived as cold, the illusion is called paradoxical cold.

Paradoxical heat, a less frequent experience resulting from the simultaneous stimulation of warm and cold spots. The sensation is sometimes called psychological heat.

The phenomenon of déjà vu is a feeling in which a past episode is repeated in the present. In fact, it is a fusion of the past and the present, which as a result gives rise to the illusion of re-experiencing. A person relives an experience under similar circumstances, and the brain projects the past situation onto the current events of life. This can be called a "hallucination" of the primary experience.

Theorists interpret the experience as an event based on the reactivation of old memory traces. They rely on stimuli that resemble emotions experienced in the past.

The illusion of perception was described by Louis Jolyon West, who noted that in psychology, this event is associated with emotions, associations and strong expectations. Everything in the complex often causes illusory delusions in everyday life.

In modern practice, there is the concept of substitution or cancellation:

• When a person expects to see someone, he may mistake the stranger for the object of search.
• When trying to remember a song, a person comes up with a different chord, similar to the desired composition.

Physiology in this case develops factor-stimulating events that help to recall life events associated with episodes of specific actions.

Psychological theories and schools

In the theory of "fading traces" of the Gestalt school, it is assumed that the physical trace (in the form temporarily excited nerve cells) of the original stimulus remains in the brain even after this stimulus stops. This trace influences the assessment of the subsequent stimulus.

The strength of the trace, also called aftereffect, and the rate at which it disappears vary greatly in individual cases. People who are field dependent may show weaker traces of aftereffect.

The syllogistic school interprets the concept of illusion. Koehler believed that human intelligence affects the understanding of perception.

A monkey took as an example:

• She used a stick to get the banana.
• A stick in a horizontal position was considered an extension of the hand.
• For food, interpreting this perception helped the monkey get the desired result.

Thus, the means to an end is always interpreted by the illusion of perception, as an object mistaken for something else thanks to a developed intellect.

Dunker of the school of intellectual restructuring studied the relationship to sudden understandings. Illusion, in his opinion, was associated with associationist empiricism.

Any experience a person has gained during his life can play a "cruel joke" with him:

• The structure of the current field is changing in an already established organization.
• Changes can occur due to changes in the structure of objects, not the environment.
• If a person with experience thinks like a beginner, the structure will not accept his judgments.

Thus, the illusion of readiness in the principles of information perception can influence the opponent's decision. Therefore, in many situations, an illusory picture of the consequences is presented as a fact that has already happened.

Diagnostics

To assess the quality of illusory perceptions in Denmark, testing was invented, which involves working with a figure (white vase) and 2 black dots. "Rubin's vase" allows you to interpret the results as the ability to see 2 objects when observing contrasting images falling on the retina. A visual test can be done with pictures like this.

The point of the study is to assess the dual nature of perception. In 1930 g. NS. Boring determined the actual content of objects and their ability to interact with humans.

As a result, the conclusion was obtained: Gestalt psychologists, who combine forms with structures, are right - a person can see 2 objects when viewing a single image. At the same time, the ability to "switch" between the subjects of perception within the human psyche is assessed.

Ponzo's illusion - working with the perspective of images. Against the background of the railway tracks stretching into the distance, 2 objects in the distance and in the vicinity seem to be different, although in their meaning they are conceived in a single expression of forms. The human brain perceives a distant object as large in size, since it is distant in perspective. When approached, it will seem even larger than what is depicted up close. Although, in fact, small details are drawn in the distance, and a large object is drawn near. This testing explains the theory of Helmholtz, who described the illusion of information perception.

Management and use methods

Moving from theory to practice, it is worth noting that the illusion of perception in physics is associated with playing on human receptor senses. People create tricks that help deceive the sensory system of vision and perception in general.

The illusion of perception in psychology differs not only in practice, but also in the impossibility of creating and influencing the work of neurons and sensors. Neuroscientists can explain why a person sees space in three dimensions when a drawing is depicted in a 2D volume.

But they will not be able to define and name the reasons for the appearance of an illusion that arose out of the blue without absentee and pre-created conditions for its generation.

Impossibility of movement test

The mechanisms responsible for the emergence of illusions are located in different parts of the central nervous system. And for their "activation" or control, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarity of the organism. The design is positioned at such an angle that the human brain perceives the spatial illusion as reality.

This is due to the following features:

• 3D objects can affect physical movement.
• The deceptive effect is achieved thanks to perspective.
• The eye perceives an object under the influence of sensory impulses.

When the projection is read, the brain perceives the model as moving from a descending line to ascending points, although the person understands the impossibility of such a phenomenon. The experiment was created by the Japanese scientist Kokichi Sugihara. Similar constructions are found in Penrose's composition "impossible triangle".

Dynamic Ebbinghaus effect

This is a striking example of theories from the school of Gestalt psychology, whose representatives are sure that a single part of the entire model can be perceived separately, and vice versa. Illusion is possible due to human perception of objects of different sizes.

The phenomenon of comparing a large and small object is explained by the fact that in comparison, 2 objects have different characteristics:

• An evaluation criterion has been created around the object.
• The criterion is carried over to a new situation (comparison).
• Objects remain static until the visual illusion occurs due to dynamics.

Scientists from the University of Nevada have cited the experimental error, but have shown that the perception of size can almost double in a new experiment. This allows you to control the sensorics of illusory perception, when a person needs to be shown a "profitable" advertisement. This is often the case in marketing and advertising.

"Red strawberry"

Not so long ago, a photo of a white and gold or black and blue dress appeared in the media, which people saw in different ways.

Actually:

• Black lace on a blue dress was practically not noted due to the ignorance of color. Neuroscientists have explained the phenomenon of adaptation between chromatic colors.
• The mechanism in the process of evolution became more "trained", and people stopped focusing on details in order to navigate in space and objects. Those who see the dress as white ignore the black shades, and vice versa.
• Red strawberry is a psychological phenomenon that determines the contrast of perception. The visual image is created by changing the conditions of perception.

Akiyoshi Kitaoka, professor of psychology at Ritsumeikan University, has shown that strawberries appear red in the photo, although there is no red pigment in the image. The fact is that when illuminating a space, a person reads colors of a different spectrum. When a grid of shadows is superimposed on a photo, the eye ignores them, creating an illusory blindness.

Such cases are often found in the vastness of online stores, so that the object that appears in the photo is presented in a more favorable light. When a person picks up a thing, he sees something completely different, although the seller could warn about a change in the contrast and color scheme of the picture.

In psychology, there are several definitions of the concept of the illusion of perception. Moreover, each term is tolerant towards the other in that the distorted acceptance of reality as reality is nothing more than a "brain game" in which human receptors are involved.

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