Why can things like optical illusions “trick” our brain, even when you know for a fact what the reality is? Why is “what your brain thinks” not equal to “what you know”?

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Why can things like optical illusions “trick” our brain, even when you know for a fact what the reality is? Why is “what your brain thinks” not equal to “what you know”?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Processing things isn’t always a direct “hands on” thing.
You see a lot of things, and process them without having to think because your brain kind of already naturally “filters” things in various ways. Like the blind spot on everyone’s retina a few inches from the face. It kind of adds post processing or filter that fills in the gaps so you’re not constantly using thought to do basic things.

This sometimes gets weird since people aren’t directly in charge of it, but it’s faster and wasn’t an issue for many situations. Optical illusions are an issue for pilots since there’s a lot of weird situations, like looking at bright lights against a dark featureless background.
Brain wasn’t built around figuring that out quickly and accurately.

A lot of body processes work in trade offs like this, like breathing or heart rate.

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