We see with our eyes, right?

We see with our eyes, right?

Surprisingly perhaps, but the answer is "No." We see with our brain, the part with the most neuronal connections, by the way. The Occipital Cortex is dedicated to assembling the most useful virtual image of all that sensory data coming in THROUGH the eyes. Most useful, NOT most accurate.

While it might seem self-evident that "most useful" IS "most accurate," this is quite often NOT the case.

The world we see out there is actually a projection of this virtual image, instantaneously adjusted by what amounts to be our "neural Adobe Photoshop", to best reflect the learned threat assessments, analysis of patterns of possible interest, and constant comparison to what we have found useful in the past so to preserve our health and further our interests. This selective attention determines what we "see".

Numerous optical illusions like this reflect the "Photoshopping" our brain performs in interesting ways. Now, about the famous "Gorilla walking past the basket players" video...