Page 32 - (DK) How to be a GENIUS?
P. 32
BRAINGAMES
Big and small
Psychologist Edward d Bradford Titchener discovered that
our judgment about t the size of something is affected by
the size of other thing gs around it. The red circles in the
d the o one bel es in the
picture here and the o one below are the same size, but the
one here looks bigger r because it is surrounded by smaller
circles. Moviemakers use this simple effect to make
monsters appear muc ch bigger than they actually are.
Wrong directi
ti
ion
ion
into think
The Müller-Lyer ill
yer illusion m
misleads the brain
rr
o thinking that the midd dle section of the line
on the left is longer than th he one on the right.
h
of length and depth.
This is because the open arrowheads extend
beyond the line, playing with our perception
Some of the most effective optical illusions can be
o
produced with simple lines and shapes. Such illusions
f
play with our perceptions of angles, size, and shape,
causing us to make unconscious assumptions about
c
e
what we see. Even when we know how they work,
the illusions are difficult to shake off.
30
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

