A recent study shows the influence of visual perception on the estimation of the size of objects in the surrounding world, which may have implications in many aspects of daily life.
- Our visual system can trick the brain into making inaccurate assumptions in interpreting what our eyes see.
- Participants in a study thus took for real scenes situations presenting reduced models.
- This research may have implications in many situations of daily life and in innovative technologies.
According to a study conducted by the American University of York and published in the journal Plosthe human visual system can ‘trick’ the brain into making inaccurate assumptions about the size of objects in the world around them.
The researchers asked participants to compare images of train transport scenes that had the top and bottom portions blurred, and photographs of model railroad tracks that were not blurred.
The results showed that the participants perceived that the real fuzzy trains were smaller than the scale models!
How the brain processes visual information
This study sheds light on the influence of visual perception on object size estimation and underlines the limits of our human visual system. Taking these findings into account can help avoid misinterpretations or errors in judgment related to visual perception, an area in which research is crucial to understanding how our brains process visual information and how we can improve our vision. and our perception.
Better understanding these processes could help improve treatment and diagnostic techniques for people with visual perceptual disorders.
The eyes subject to the influence of the brain
This study shows that the human visual system is sometimes capable of accurate size perception but at other times, subject to other influences, it fails to make sense of the actual size of the object. Therefore, a misperception can lead to errors in judgement, which could have negative consequences in many situations. In particular, pilots, drivers, drone operators and other professionals who need to judge the distance and size of an object must remain alert to the limits of their vision and perception in order to avoid accidents. .
Understanding the Visual System: Implications for Daily Life
The research findings could therefore also have implications for many aspects of everyday life, such as driving and self-driving vehicles or how eyewitness accounts are handled in the criminal justice system. It could also help design better technologies such as drones and augmented or virtual reality equipment.
