tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/illusion-7291/articlesillusion – The Conversation2024-02-28T16:24:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245272024-02-28T16:24:11Z2024-02-28T16:24:11ZJane Harris: celebrating the British abstract painter you’ve probably never heard of<p>“These decorative curves are only painted rugs which would be better to sit on than to admire hanging on a wall,” <a href="https://monoskop.org/images/a/a7/Ball_Hugo_Flight_Out_of_Time_A_Dada_Diary_1996.pdf">proclaimed the dadaist Hugo Ball</a>, mocking the <a href="https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/display/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000045642#oao-9781884446054-e-7000045642">abstract paintings of Wassily Kandinsky</a>. Ball admired the paintings of the Russian painter who sought to express “internal truths”, but found them, at times, too decorative. Which was about the worst insult you could level at a budding modernist painter in the first decades of the 20th century.</p>
<p>The likes of Kandinsky sought something essential and true. Decoration was, by contrast, arbitrary – something added on after the important work was done. Even worse, it was deceptive to the eye, trivial and associated with the applied arts. In a word, it was feminine. </p>
<p>Things have changed, thankfully, although the odd art critic still gets nervous faced with a painting that flirts with the decorative. By all accounts, this nervousness might well have amused the British abstract painter <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/07/jane-harris-obituary">Jane Harris</a>.</p>
<p>Harris, who died at the age of 65 in 2022, belonged to a generation of painters who did not seek internal truths, but chose to play with the wealth of visual effects and associations offered by decoration.</p>
<p>Since the early 1990s – when art in the UK was dominated by the knowing, nudge-nudge, tabloid-baiting of the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/who-were-the-ybas#:%7E:text=The%20YBAs%2C%20or%20Young%20British,%2C%20entrepreneurial%2C%20provocative%20and%20irreverent.">Young British Artists</a> (YBAs) – Harris patiently, uniquely, and not without humour, explored decoration through abstract painting.</p>
<p>Contemporary art trends moved elsewhere after the YBAs. There was (another) resurgence of painting about 20 years ago, but Harris, working quietly in France far away from London, did not feature. Thankfully, a handful of gallerists and collectors saw the value of her work and continued to support her.</p>
<p>But now, in <a href="https://fracnouvelleaquitaine-meca.fr/evenement/eclipse/?hl=en">Ellipse</a>, a new exhibition at Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine MÉCA in Bordeaux, eight of Harris’s oil paintings are on display, and very much worth seeing in person.</p>
<h2>Illusion and ambiguity</h2>
<p>Critic Barry Schwabsky called her work <a href="https://www.janeharris.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/JH-Out-There-Eagle-Gallery-Press-Release-2018.pdf">“rococo minimalism”</a> because it combines the pared-back repertoire of the latter with the frills and play of the former. That said, Harris’s works are probably more <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/b/baroque">baroque</a> than <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/movement/rococo/">rococo</a> in their exploration of illusions and ambiguous shapes and surfaces.</p>
<p>She found a supple motif in the ellipse, which she stretched, squashed, folded, rotated and repeated, just as one might do with an ornamental motif when composing a decorative frieze or pattern. This manipulation of shape brings her ellipses to life – and all the drama happens at their edges.</p>
<p>Harris breaks their neat borders with indentations, frills, scallops, petals and spikes. Some are constant in size, while others grow, diminish or even appear to rotate and flip. Sometimes the border is a different colour to both the ellipse and the field of paint in which it sits, but most often Harris works with only two colours, inside and outside the ellipse.</p>
<p>The paint on the outside is then brushed to follow closely the contours of the edge, so that a part of the outside becomes a part of the border, giving the look of something carved or embossed upon the surface. This makes her ellipses seem to fold or twist, to zoom in or out. The effects are perplexing, surprisingly varied, and always playful.</p>
<p>Harris often mixes in metallic paint, giving a sheen and shimmer to her bold, acidic colours. Her pairings of colours are odd to say the least, but they derive from her observations of the world around her, glimpses of contrasted colours or strange light effects that might issue from something quite banal, like water in a sink, books on a shelf or clothes drying on a line.</p>
<p>She then abstracts from these moments to hold on to the feeling that she described as “not quite [being] sure where things are in space”. What Harris loved about painting was that it could play with that ambiguity, “whether it is a form or a mark or an area in a painting – [it] can do more than one thing at once … It has that flexibility or that variability that I think is just wonderful, and I’m still in love with the way painting can do that.”</p>
<p>The eight oil painting on display include the series of Familiars (2014-18), arranged in tall pairs along a wall facing the Garonne river, where they shimmer uncertainly in changing natural light.</p>
<p>On the adjoining wall is The Fugitives (2008), whose title points to the variability and play that Harris so loved. Here, a pair of silvery ellipses catch the light like pools in a gentle breeze. In the corridor leading to the gallery are Look There, Look There (2014) and Buff and Tan (2005), compositions of four almost spherical ellipses that play more calmly in the artificial light.</p>
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<p>The exhibition also includes several drawings and watercolours by Harris which combine ellipses in more elaborate, interlocking patterns of cool graphite and fluid pigment.</p>
<p>It is especially important to view these paintings and drawings in person, where their array of effects and associations can be fully explored and enjoyed. This Bordeaux exhibition is long overdue. I hope it will lead to Harris’s painting gaining the recognition it deserves, finally. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Stott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jane Harris eschewed the fashionable 1990s London art scene and retreated to rural France where she experimented quietly with shape and colour.Timothy Stott, Associate Professor in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Department of Art History & Architecture, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1890262022-09-14T12:22:39Z2022-09-14T12:22:39Z50 years ago, an artist convincingly exhibited a fake Iron Age civilization – with invented maps, music and artifacts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484405/original/file-20220913-3841-j43d1i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C3%2C846%2C547&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Trallib (Oil Container),' by Norman Daly, 1970. Daily made this object with an orange juicer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Marilyn Rivchin</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Invented civilizations are usually thought of as the stuff of sci-fi novels and video games, not museums. </p>
<p>Yet in 1972, the <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/A.D.-White-Museum-Press-Release-for-Civilization-of-Llhuria-1972.pdf">Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art</a> at Cornell University exhibited “The Civilization of Llhuros,” an imaginary Iron Age civilization. Created by Cornell Professor of Art <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/about-the-artist/norman-daly/">Norman Daly</a>, who died in 2008, the show resembled a real archaeological exhibition with more than 150 objects on display.</p>
<p>Unaware of Llhuros, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kz5_ZEOC1A">I started fabricating and documenting</a> my own imaginary ancient culture using ceramics and printmaking for my undergraduate thesis in 1980. The following year, as a graduate student, I learned about Llhuros and began a decadeslong correspondence with Daly. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nigerian-prince-scams-continue-to-dupe-us-98232">scams</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-scammers-like-anna-delvey-and-the-tinder-swindler-exploit-a-core-feature-of-human-nature-177289">deceptions</a> and <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4625/Fake-NewsUnderstanding-Media-and-Misinformation-in">lies</a> flourishing in our digital age, an art exhibition that convincingly presents fiction as fact has particular currency.</p>
<h2>A culture made from scratch</h2>
<p>Daly’s project was truly groundbreaking. The exhibition included a map of the excavation sites, old tools and religious artifacts that Daly had crafted, all from the culture’s distinct periods – “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/early-archaic/">Early Archaic</a>,” “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/archaic/">Archaic</a>,” “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/late-archaic/">Late Archaic</a>,” “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/middle/">Middle Period</a>” and “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/decline/">Decline</a>.” </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A stone shield." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘Lacunarium (Decorative Shield with Salamanders),’ by Norman Daly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/92-1.jpg">Photo by Linda Fisher.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>There were translations of <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/media/poetry-of-llhuros/">Llhuroscian poetry</a> that Daly had written; soundtracks with reenactments of <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/narrative/ceremonies-and-rituals/">Llhuroscian ceremonies</a> and songs performed by a women’s church choir; <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/media/international-tv-interview/">audio interviews</a> with fake Llhurosian scholars; and <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/about-the-artist/catalogs-and-posters/">a 56-page exhibition catalog</a> with an invented bibliography and <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/resources/llhuroscian-glossary/">glossary of Llhuroscian terms</a>.</p>
<p>Daly – with guidance from <a href="https://www.marilynrivchinmedia.com/">Marilyn Rivchin</a>, a museum staffer; and <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/theithacajournal/name/robert-ascher-obituary?id=12637791">Robert Ascher</a>, a Cornell anthropology and archaeology professor – conceived everything.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A humanoid sculture made from a dish bottle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘Trallib (Oil Container),’ by Norman Daly, 1970. Daly fabricated this sculpture using an Ivory dish soap bottle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Marion Wesp</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>To the casual viewer, Llhuros appeared to be real. The artifacts and tools were often made from found objects – an Ivory dish-soap bottle transformed into an earthenware figure, or a “nasal flute found at the early excavations at Lamplö” made from a metal stove burner. Many of the objects were cracked and broken, with patinas and incrustations making them appear as if they’d survived centuries. The tension between real and fake was tangible.</p>
<p>At the time, the exhibition attracted enthusiastic reviews in <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Fabulous-Llhuroscians-Newsweek-02281972.pdf">Newsweek</a> and <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/The-Civilization-of-Llhuros-The-New-Repbulic-Kenneth-Evett-On-Art-1972-01-12.pdf">The New Republic</a>. But the New York art world largely overlooked it.</p>
<h2>Testing the viewer’s grasp of reality</h2>
<p>Prior to creating “The Civilization of Llhuros,” Daly was making paintings and sculptural reliefs influenced by <a href="https://normandaly.com/galleries/southwest-series-1946-49/">Native American and prehistoric art</a>. </p>
<p>His earlier work had much in common with other 20th century artists, <a href="https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1907">from Pablo Picasso to Max Ernst</a>, who drew inspiration from art outside of the European canon. These artists questioned Western academic traditions and valued the direct and expressive forms found in African and Native American art. This approach to making art <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jun/14/masks-monsters-masterpieces-yinka-shonibare-picasso-africa">can be problematic</a>, since there’s an element of cultural appropriation. But it also speaks to a desire to connect with universal aspects of human culture.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bald man with glasses and beared working at a potter's wheel." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1078&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1078&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1078&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Norman Daly in his studio, 1971.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Marilyn Rivchin</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>So why would Daly shift his creative practice to the mock-documentary form, creating an entire fake culture in the form of a museum exhibition?</p>
<p>A few key moments cultivated the idea.</p>
<p>One of his tall sculptural works had been exhibited in a faculty dining room. But people kept mistaking it for a hat rack, which frustrated Daly: He assumed that the value of an artwork was self-evident and that it should be able to “speak for itself.” Clearly, that wasn’t always the case. So by creating an exhibition – replete with a catalog, visual guides and explanatory labels – he could extend the meaning of his visual art. If the art object does not speak for itself, why not fabricate a narrative as part of the show? </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Metal sculpture made from various found objects." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1179&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1179&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1179&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Home Votive,’ metal assemblage, by Norman Daly, 1965.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Emil Gingher</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Another realization came to Daly while attending a performance of contemporary music. At the concert, he observed that the audience was working hard to resist the random interference of auditory distractions, from program rustlers to feet shufflers. Daly considered ways that a visual artist could employ what he called “planned interference” to provoke deeper audience engagement with the work.</p>
<p>This insight compelled him to use a variety of ironic signals to disrupt the credibility of the museum narrative and test the viewer’s understanding whether Llhuros was real or invented. He might assemble a massive bronze temple door from plastic foam packing cartons, or create an oil lamp that resembles an orange juicer. </p>
<p>For Daly, stories about the Llhuroscians are also about what it is to be human, with themes of guilt, desire and faith appearing in many of the works. With his recurring “stilt walker,” he depicts a religious pilgrim who carries a bird on his head, walking on stilts of different lengths. The self-imposed struggle of the man, who appears across several works, comes from the guilt he feels. </p>
<h2>The art of fraud</h2>
<p>Like Daly, I was interested in the use of documentary forms to present works of fiction. My mock-documentary exhibitions have shifted from archaeological themes to include <a href="https://volweb.utk.edu/%7Eblyons/medical_gallery1.htm">anatomical prints</a>, <a href="https://old.post-gazette.com/magazine/20010118artpreviewmag2.asp">a collection of contemporary folk art</a>, <a href="https://gregg.arts.ncsu.edu/exhibitions/virtual-tours/fantastic-fauna-chimeric-creatures/">a creationist organization from the 1920s</a>, and <a href="http://volweb.utk.edu/%7Eblyons/">an early 20th century circus</a>. I am drawn to this form of art because I am inspired by the idea of inventing artworks that appear to have the authority of history.</p>
<p>In her 2021 book, “<a href="https://doppelhouse.com/sting-in-the-tale/">Sting in the Tale: Art, Hoax and Provocation</a>,” artist and writer <a href="http://www.antoinettelafarge.com/bio.html">Antoinette LaFarge</a> describes Daly’s approach as a form of “fictive art,” arguing that the mock-documentary uses of historical forms, as well as “self-outing” through ironic signals, have significance for a contemporary culture saturated with misinformation. </p>
<p>There are, of course, precedents: In his 1917 <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/4/1/11346940/bathtub-history-prank-april-fools">bathtub hoax</a>, journalist and satirist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-L-Mencken">H.L. Mencken</a> presented a fabricated history of bathtubs in America. P.T. Barnum became known for his creative hoaxes, which included his <a href="https://www.livescience.com/56037-feejee-mermaid.html">Feejee mermaid specimen</a>, made from an orangutan and a salmon. Where Mencken sought to teach the American public about their gullibility, Barnum wanted to make a quick buck and didn’t care whether his audience believed the ruse. Fictive art draws on this history to create relevant works of contemporary art.</p>
<p>To mark the 50th anniversary of “The Civilization of Llhuros,” I have organized <a href="https://symposium.civilizationofllhuros.org/">a free, daylong virtual symposium</a> to be held on Oct. 8, 2022. An international roster of presenters will discuss Daly’s exhibition and his legacy as a teacher. It will also feature contemporary artists who work with Llhuros as a paradigm. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/">fact-checking outlets</a> <a href="https://thenewstack.io/deep-learning-ai-tool-identifies-fake-news-with-automated-fact-checking/">and algorithms</a> help people spot deception and misinformation. But art that tests your perceptions of what is real – allowing you to suspend your disbelief, while also giving you the opportunity to recognize the tools of deception – can play a role, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beauvais Lyons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Norman Daly’s 1972 exhibition, ‘The Civilization of Llhuros,’ presented fiction as fact – and reminded viewers of just how easily they could be duped.Beauvais Lyons, Chancellor’s Professor of Art, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1805302022-04-07T12:27:18Z2022-04-07T12:27:18Z‘Is It Cake?’ feeds viewers visual catharsis for uncertain times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456223/original/file-20220404-30716-3n1wlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C4%2C835%2C516&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Burger or baked good?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/f9d9550d602c9abf100f9663baaffd23f15f69f7/2022/03/25/06098a0a-c226-4424-819c-211b105f9c71/is-it-cake-netflix-series-3.jpg?auto=webp&width=940">Netflix</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I doubt that even Netflix expected “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18314214/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Is It Cake?</a>” to be such <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/is-it-cake-netflix-winner-host-mikey-day-b2042843.html">a hit</a>.</p>
<p>The premise, if you haven’t already binged the TV series, involves professional bakers trying to fool judges by creating cakes that don’t look like dessert but instead appear to be everyday commodities – <a href="https://occ-0-2794-2219.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/E8vDc_W8CLv7-yMQu8KMEC7Rrr8/AAAABZ263WWcK5gKK7LvJSx-mfmc-vPlDxMahyf9oNCPHOoe3hcatZiOsBiXcHbfowZ2q4HKuEFCnv41SZb7oM-Dqfj3ht9L.jpg?r=342">purses</a>, <a href="https://occ-0-2794-2219.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/9pS1daC2n6UGc3dUogvWIPMR_OU/AAAABWiTDRMaTxiw8m-lnI4SYcwJ7z6xHtAgPALKsHSt3c_LCnEiMWEglFla-yF3a5ZL9g4deWNrfvkRXaGzs04SyYagzQZgDDp1SbK4lLP_y5BiZMl-.jpg?r=697">toys</a>, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/f9d9550d602c9abf100f9663baaffd23f15f69f7/2022/03/25/06098a0a-c226-4424-819c-211b105f9c71/is-it-cake-netflix-series-3.jpg?auto=webp&width=940">fast food</a>.</p>
<p>But while most critics see this as just another iteration of mindless TV, I see “Is It Cake?” as deeply tied to a cultural moment in which deception – and learning how to recognize it – has become a part of everyday life.</p>
<p>A show like “Is It Cake?” offers a safe way for viewers to test their capacity to spot a fake. This may seem like a stretch; cake and conspiracy are hardly the same thing. </p>
<p>Yet as an art historian who researches <a href="https://art.unc.edu/people/art-history-faculty/maggie-cao/">the history of visual deception</a>, I’ve noticed that throughout American history, moments of social anxiety around truth tend to be accompanied by similar “fool the eye” pop culture phenomena, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-greatest-showman-paved-the-way-for-donald-trump-85212">P.T. Barnum’s hoaxes</a> to a painting technique called “<a href="http://arthistorynewsreport.blogspot.com/2022/02/hyperreal-art-of-trompe-loeil.html">trompe l’oeil</a>.” </p>
<h2>Guessing games</h2>
<p>In the last decades of the 19th century, while the art world was enamored with Van Gogh and Matisse, middle-class Americans became obsessed with trompe l’oeil paintings – hyperrealistic still lifes that featured life-size everyday objects. They looked so real that people reportedly tried to <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/William_M_Harnett/K47qAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">grab painted violins and dollar bills off the wall</a>.</p>
<p>Even those prone to suspicion could fall victim, because the paintings were exhibited without frames and <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/William_M_Harnett/K47qAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">in atypical settings</a> like pubs, shop windows and hotel lobbies. In these quintessential urban public spaces, the act of being fooled became a collective social experience, much as it is on “Is It Cake?” Not only are viewers taking pleasure in the failure of the on-screen judges, but the judges themselves must also reach a collective verdict after 20 seconds of debate. </p>
<p>One particular <a href="https://collections.brandywine.org/objects/6114/which-is-which?ctx=5ebd1c52-4dae-46cb-ac0d-ff52bd23582e&idx=978">1890 painting of stamps</a> is remarkably reminiscent of a bit called “Cash or Cake” that closes out each episode of “Is It Cake?” The painting, by Jefferson Chalfant, unassumingly features two Lincoln stamps side by side, one painted, the other real. Below them, a painted news clipping invites viewers to decide which is which.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two stamps featuring Abraham Lincoln's visage appear side by side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jefferson Chalfant’s 1890 painting ‘Which is Which?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.brandywine.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1005/resize%3Aformat%3Dfull">Brandywine River Museum of Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the show, the winning baker faces this exact predicament when offered the opportunity to win bonus prize money: Guess which of two containers overflowing with cash is actual money, and which is cake. The point of the confounding exercise is to show that even the most talented illusionists can be made the fool. </p>
<p>Self-conscious humor was also central to trompe l’oeil. Rather than signing their names as artists are apt to do, trompe l’oeil painters often painted their own photographs or letters addressed to their studio into their still lifes as an inside joke. </p>
<p>In the past, what fascinated Americans about trompe l’oeil was not just that they could be tricked by talented artists, but the how and why of their deceptions. The <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Public_Opinion/UuM_AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+harnett+secret+service&pg=PA198&printsec=frontcover">Secret Service questioned one painter</a> named William Harnett after he painted a wrinkled five-dollar bill.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of violin hanging with sheet music behind it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William Michael Harnett’s 1886 trompe l’oeil ‘The Old Violin.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.79531.html">National Gallery of Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another, John Haberle, had one of his paintings forensically examined by a panel of experts who observed it <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kTJuVN1xjk8C&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=%22The+lens+was+used,+the+paint+was+rubbed+off,+and+the+whole+ingenious+design+proved+really+a+work+of+imitative+art%22&source=bl&ots=SmfkwlMH2h&sig=ACfU3U1hmcz1N_IpXkkEZiy9MC9ZsbtMOg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjL14Lj3fr2AhUVgnIEHYWBBTYQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q=%22The%20lens%20was%20used%2C%20the%20paint%20was%20rubbed%20off%2C%20and%20the%20whole%20ingenious%20design%20proved%20really%20a%20work%20of%20imitative%20art%22&f=false">under a lens and even rubbed off</a> some of the paint. </p>
<p>This investigative penchant explains the curious genealogy of “Is It Cake?”
The show traces its roots to a series of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/redrosecake_tubageckil/">viral Instagram videos</a> from 2020 that featured illusionistic cakes at their moment of denouement.</p>
<p>Most viral videos don’t become television series, but this one has because the esoteric process of creating the illusion equally fascinates, even if viewers have no fondant-focused aspirations.</p>
<h2>A sugary allegory</h2>
<p>Trompe l’oeil is an ancient art form, but it exploded in the United States, and nowhere else, in the 19th century because <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Looking_Askance/EWHdRBuIQDcC?hl=en&gbpv=0">deception was a new and particularly American problem</a>. </p>
<p>Cities and industries were growing more rapidly than ever before, and many Americans moving from rural areas faced urban anonymity for the first time. Cities were rife with crooked opportunists, from <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uCjgwIuJz1IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:0674026578&hl=&cd=1&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q&f=false">con artists to counterfeiters</a> – <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-scammers-like-anna-delvey-and-the-tinder-swindler-exploit-a-core-feature-of-human-nature-177289">the Anna Delveys and Tinder Swindlers of their day</a>. Trust was a tricky matter. </p>
<p>In this milieu, trompe l’oeil had a social function. It gave Americans an outlet for testing their discernment in a manageable and pleasurable way.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>So it doesn’t surprise me that the gravitation toward a show like “Is it Cake?” is happening at a time when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/world/asia/misinformation-disinformation-fake-news.html">more ominous deceptions lurk in the media landscape</a>. There are even moments when the show veers in darkly suggestive directions. In one episode, the bakers collectively try to educate host Mikey Day by teaching him the term “tiltscape,” which, they explain, has to do with the balance and weight distribution of baked goods. After Day uses the word in his appraisal of the contestants’ work, they later reveal that the term was a hoax all along – a sugary allegory for socially fueled misinformation. </p>
<p>At a time when we often don’t know if what we encounter on our screens can be trusted, it feels good to alleviate those anxieties with a show in which the only consequence of being fooled is cutting into a shoe that we assumed was a cake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Cao does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ‘fool the eye’ cakes hearken back to popular paintings from another period in American history when there was anxiety over fakes, fraudsters and misinformation.Maggie Cao, David G. Frey Assistant Professor of Art History, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230082019-10-23T19:05:24Z2019-10-23T19:05:24ZCurious Kids: how does an optical illusion work?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294703/original/file-20190930-185407-16iix72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2396%2C1904&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Optical illusions use colour, pictures and shapes that can make our brain and eyes confused. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sister-brother-observing-optical-illusion-swirl-15203233?src=yOjOatiHJwMRc7fH9WPYJA-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>How does an optical illusion work? – Scarlett, age 8, Shellharbour, NSW.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<hr>
<p>Take a look at this image and move your eyes across the pattern: </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294693/original/file-20190930-185394-1jwdt3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294693/original/file-20190930-185394-1jwdt3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294693/original/file-20190930-185394-1jwdt3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294693/original/file-20190930-185394-1jwdt3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294693/original/file-20190930-185394-1jwdt3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294693/original/file-20190930-185394-1jwdt3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294693/original/file-20190930-185394-1jwdt3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Your eyes tell the brain what it sees and the brain fills in the missing information.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/optical-illusion-movement-executed-form-fluctuating-143074990?src=zp1ouHombOS46WcdLb5o1g-1-43">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Do you see something moving? Well, it’s not really moving. It’s just your brain being confused by what your eyes tell it.</p>
<h2>The confused brain</h2>
<p>Our brain is like a blind supercomputer; it’s very smart, but it can’t see. It’s just a really smart blob. </p>
<p>To figure out what it needs, our eyes tell our brain what the things around us look like. The problem is our eyes only know a handful of words to describe what they see.</p>
<p>Sometimes, our brain gets confused by what the eyes are trying to tell it.</p>
<p>This can mean the brain thinks things are moving when actually they’re still. Or you might “see” shapes, shades or colours that aren’t really there. </p>
<p>For example, look at Square A and Square B in this picture:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298007/original/file-20191021-56194-ntcpji.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do Square A and Square B look different?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-functions/visual-perception">Queensland Brain Institute</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Square A looks lighter, but is actually darker than Square B. In fact, here’s what both squares look like side by side:</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-was-the-first-computer-122164">What was the first computer?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A simple language</h2>
<p>Our eyes and brain speak to each other in a very simple language, like a child who doesn’t know many words. Most of the time that’s not a problem and our brain is able to understand what the eyes tell it.</p>
<p>The colour of an orange, the size of a chair, how far away the door is – your brain knows all these things because the eyes told it so in simple language. </p>
<p>But your brain also has to “fill in the blanks” meaning it has to make some guesses based on the simple clues from the eyes. Mostly those guesses are right (for example, I can see the door looks about <em>this big</em> and the light falls on it <em>that way</em>, so my brain is taking these simple clues and guessing the door is about one metre away). </p>
<h2>A wrong guess</h2>
<p>Sometimes, however, the brain guesses wrong. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298010/original/file-20191021-56228-75ax3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our eyes and brains evolved to be quite sensitive to movement, even when it is not really there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, it <em>thinks</em> our eyes told it something is moving but that’s not what the eyes <em>meant</em> to say to the brain. (Our brains and eyes evolved to be quite sensitive about movement because in pre-historic times it was a big help if you could spot movement early and often. A slight rustle in the bushes could mean a predator was nearby and it was time to run away. Spotting movement early could save your life!)</p>
<p>Optical illusions happen when our brain and eyes try to speak to each other in simple language but the interpretation gets a bit mixed-up.</p>
<h2>But how and why?</h2>
<p>A lot of scientists have worked very hard for many years trying to understand how optical illusions work. But the truth is, in many cases, we still don’t know for sure exactly how our brain and eyes work together to create these illusions.</p>
<p>We know that information that our eyes gather goes on a long, complicated journey as it travels to the brain. Some of the confusion happens early in that journey. Other optical illusions can only be explained by really complicated processes way down the line in that journey.</p>
<p>In general, the further down the line these “confusions” occur, the less scientists tend to know about exactly how they happen.</p>
<p>But who knows? Maybe you will grow up to be part of the research team that cracks the code. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-do-different-people-see-the-same-colours-107972">Curious Kids: do different people see the same colours?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cedric van den Berg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sometimes our brain gets confused and misunderstands what the eyes tell it.Cedric van den Berg, PhD student, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/948352018-05-16T12:37:46Z2018-05-16T12:37:46ZA brief history of immersion, centuries before VR<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219028/original/file-20180515-195308-1w1uj0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=73%2C472%2C4368%2C2430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/milliganpuss/26442773775">milliganpuss</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immersive experiences are <a href="https://qz.com/1277013/arcelor-mittal-uses-virtual-reality-vr-gaming-tech-in-south-africa-to-test-fear-of-heights/">fashionable at the moment</a>, as virtual reality finally emerges into the mainstream with headsets now commercially available. But immersion is a technique much older than technology. It is the key to storytelling, in literature, film, videogames, even in the spoken stories told by our ancestors around the campfire. We are taken in by the experience: we become so involved with a character that we share their emotions, or build expectations about their progress in the story – and react when these expectations are either fulfilled or thwarted.</p>
<p>Look at immersion from a historical perspective and we see the rituals and social practices that gave rise to immersive experiences, and the relevance of the past to the hyped products of today.</p>
<p>In the middle ages, the use of stained glass in churches was designed to create an immersive sense of otherworldliness by bathing the church’s interior with coloured light. It was designed to provide churchgoers with a sense of direct contact with the divine, through visual stories aimed at a largely illiterate population.</p>
<p>Stained glass was an important form of visual storytelling. It was one of the ways that religious institutions could exert their hold on believers through the sanctity of messages delivered through colour and light, for which believers had to crane their necks up towards the sky to face the high windows.</p>
<p>A great example of this is the recently restored Great East Window at York Minster, a very large expanse of painted glass created in the early 1400s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219034/original/file-20180515-195305-f6oczo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Great East Window, York Minster, which depicts scenes from the beginning and the end of the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:York_Minster,_Great_East_Window_-_Apocalypse_(detail)_0.jpg">University of York</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The sheer scale of this window is extraordinary. It is the largest expanse of glass in the minster and one of the biggest in Europe. All designed and created by one artist, John Thornton. Its subject is no less than the beginning and the end of the world representing in its huge number of panes <a href="http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/15141581.Beasts__dragons__heaven_and_hell__a_close_up_look_at_York_Minster_s_stunning_stained_glass/">scenes from Genesis and from the Day of Judgement</a>. As such, it can be easily interpreted as a form of immersive storytelling for audiences of the late middle ages.</p>
<p>You can imagine the multi-sensory aspects of this experience: the design and shape of the space would have been critical to its impact on the audience, with light flooding in from the east. With dust and smoke in the interior, and the sound of a priest’s sermon and choir reverberating around the vaulted ceilings, even by today’s standards it would be pretty immersive.</p>
<h2>Smoke and mirrors</h2>
<p>In the late 18th century, the quirkily named <a href="https://www.academia.edu/589819/Remember_the_Phantasmagoria_Illusion_Politics_of_the_Eighteenth_Century_and_its_Multimedial_Afterlife">phantasmagoria</a> used – quite literally – smoke and mirrors along with magic lanterns, a form of early image projector, invisible screens and sound effects to create a theatrical performance.</p>
<p>Recovered written <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1343603?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">accounts of the phantasmagoria</a> are very interesting, as they link the rise in the use of magic lantern projections with the history of cinema. Via these immersive experiences, we get to the development of contemporary virtual reality devices.</p>
<p>The origins of phantasmagoria are associated with the work of German <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4609248/The_19_Century_German_Origins_of_the_Phantasmagoria_Show">Johann Georg Schropfer</a> who used magic lantern projections as part of monastic rituals – another form of immersive religious experience.</p>
<p>Participants would often fast for 24 hours prior to a performance and were greeted ceremoniously with drugged punch or salad. Skulls, candles and other monastic paraphernalia were used to set the scene. Accounts indicate that in these original performances three ghosts would be summoned, serving the monastic search for a deeper truth through contact with the spirit world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219036/original/file-20180515-195321-93v3cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Engraving depicting one of Robertson’s phantasmagorical shows and the effects they had on audiences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fantasmagorie_de_Robertson.tif">Memories by Etienne Gaspard Robertson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Inflicting terror</h2>
<p>This soon became popular entertainment, and the showman Paul Philidor produced elaborate shows for audiences in Vienna. Another was the Belgian <a href="https://skullsinthestars.com/2013/02/11/phantasmagoria-how-etienne-gaspard-robert-terrified-paris-for-science/">Etienne-Gaspard Robertson</a> in the first few years of the 19th century in Paris. He would use three moving magic lanterns behind a transparent screen, accompanied by elaborate costumes and decorations and augmented with horrifying sounds, to inflict terror upon his audience. With the growing <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-living-and-the-dead-captures-victorian-anxieties-about-science-and-the-supernatural-63025">Victorian interest in all things gothic</a>, phantasmagoria performances spread to England where they were delivered alongside seances to deceive, terrify and manipulate their audiences. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218998/original/file-20180515-195341-16dwyio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View Master slide viewer, developed in the 1930s and still available today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/deiby/2741030309/in/photostream/">deiby</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the mechanics of today’s immersive experiences can be found in these early examples. The use of a projection system is common to phantasmagoria and to contemporary cinema. </p>
<p>Head-mounted displays seen in modern VR systems can be first seen in the stereoscopic imagery of the View Master, which dates back to the 1930s and is still available in children’s toy shops today. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219017/original/file-20180515-195333-mbcb3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219017/original/file-20180515-195333-mbcb3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219017/original/file-20180515-195333-mbcb3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219017/original/file-20180515-195333-mbcb3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219017/original/file-20180515-195333-mbcb3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219017/original/file-20180515-195333-mbcb3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219017/original/file-20180515-195333-mbcb3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An early 3D film showing at the Festival of Britain, 1951.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/3002426059">The National Archives</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the 1950s, different cinematic techniques were introduced, <a href="https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_film_and_media_studies/32/">including 3D cinema using stereoscopic glasses</a>, an approach that still captivates audiences to this day – the 3D film Avatar is among <a href="http://www.thisisinsider.com/highest-grossing-movies-box-office-2017-1">the most financially successful movies of all time</a>. I remember one of my first immersive experiences was watching How the West Was Won in the 1960s on a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/movies/long-before-imax-the-curious-tale-of-cinerama.html">Cinerama screen</a> – where a film is projected onto a giant, curved screen that provides an immersive experience via the wrap-around effect of the huge screen on the viewers’ field of view.</p>
<p>So the current obsession with immersive virtual and augmented reality experiences will continue – we love our illusions and the stories that go with them. But we should not forget that to be swept away and out of the present by an immersive story is a timeless human desire, that’s origins go back as far as we do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94835/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick T. Allen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We’ve never needed Oculus Rift to provide immersive experiences – they’ve been around for as long as we have.Patrick T. Allen, Senior Lecturer in New Media Design, University of BradfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/239572014-03-21T06:04:45Z2014-03-21T06:04:45ZAnimals could help reveal why humans fall for illusions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44391/original/b3nk2h27-1395313678.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rabbit or duck, it's all in the eyes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kaninchen_und_Ente.png">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Visual illusions, such as the rabbit-duck (shown above) and café wall (shown below) are fascinating because they remind us of the discrepancy between perception and reality. But our knowledge of such illusions has been largely limited to studying humans. </p>
<p>That is now changing. There is mounting evidence that other animals can fall prey to the same illusions. Understanding whether these illusions arise in different brains could help us understand how evolution shapes visual perception. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44388/original/2brhqjmr-1395310521.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44388/original/2brhqjmr-1395310521.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44388/original/2brhqjmr-1395310521.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44388/original/2brhqjmr-1395310521.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44388/original/2brhqjmr-1395310521.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44388/original/2brhqjmr-1395310521.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44388/original/2brhqjmr-1395310521.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parallel or not, that is the question.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caf%C3%A9_wall.svg">Fibonacci/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For neuroscientists and psychologists, illusions not only reveal how visual scenes are interpreted and mentally reconstructed, they also highlight constraints in our perception. They can take hundreds of different forms and can affect our perception of size, motion, colour, brightness, 3D form and much more.</p>
<p>Artists, architects and designers have used illusions for centuries to distort our perception. Some of the most common types of illusory percepts are those that affect the impression of size, length or distance. For example, Ancient Greek architects designed columns for buildings so that they tapered and narrowed towards the top, creating the impression of a taller building when viewed from the ground. This type of illusion is called forced perspective, commonly used in ornamental gardens and stage design to make scenes appear larger or smaller.</p>
<p>As visual processing needs to be both rapid and generally accurate, the brain constantly uses shortcuts and makes assumptions about the world that can, in some cases, be misleading. For example, the brain uses assumptions and the visual information surrounding an object (such as light level and presence of shadows) to adjust the perception of colour accordingly. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44389/original/szx5qhxv-1395312153.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44389/original/szx5qhxv-1395312153.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44389/original/szx5qhxv-1395312153.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44389/original/szx5qhxv-1395312153.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44389/original/szx5qhxv-1395312153.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44389/original/szx5qhxv-1395312153.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44389/original/szx5qhxv-1395312153.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Beau Lotto</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Known as colour constancy, this perceptual process can be illustrated by the illusion of the coloured tiles. Both squares with asterisks are of the same colour, but the square on top of the cube in direct light appears brown whereas the square on the side in shadow appears orange, because the brain adjusts colour perception based on light conditions.</p>
<p>These illusions are the result of visual processes shaped by evolution. Using that process may have been once beneficial (or still is), but it also allows our brains to be tricked. If it happens to humans, then it might happen to other animals too. And, if animals are tricked by the same illusions, then perhaps revealing why a different evolutionary path leads to the same visual process might help us understand why evolution favours this development.</p>
<p>The idea that animal colouration might appear illusory was raised more than 100 years ago by American artist and naturalist <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924022546406">Abbott Thayer</a> and his son Gerald. Thayer was aware of the “optical tricks” used by artists and he argued that animal colouration could similarly create special effects, allowing animals with gaudy colouration to apparently become invisible. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/22/beheco.art118.abstract">recent review</a> of animal illusions (and other sensory forms of manipulation), we found evidence in support of Thayer’s original ideas. Although the evidence is only recently emerging, it seems, like humans, animals can perceive and create a range of visual illusions.</p>
<p>Animals use visual signals (such as their colour patterns) for many purposes, including finding a mate and avoiding being eaten. Illusions can play a role in many of these scenarios. </p>
<p>Great bowerbirds could be the ultimate illusory artists. For example, their males construct <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6066/335">forced perspective illusions</a> to make them more attractive to mates. Similar to Greek architects, this illusion may affect the female’s perception of size. </p>
<p>Animals may also change their perceived size by changing their social surroundings. Female fiddler crabs prefer to mate with large-clawed males. When a male has two smaller clawed males on either side of him he is <a href="http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/3/730.abstract">more attractive to a female</a> (because he looks relatively larger) than if he was surrounded by two larger clawed males. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44409/original/yrk6schd-1395334393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44409/original/yrk6schd-1395334393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44409/original/yrk6schd-1395334393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44409/original/yrk6schd-1395334393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44409/original/yrk6schd-1395334393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44409/original/yrk6schd-1395334393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44409/original/yrk6schd-1395334393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mine is bigger than yours. Or is it?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mond-vergleich.svg">Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This effect is known as the Ebbinghaus illusion (see image), and suggests that males may easily manipulate their perceived attractiveness by surrounding themselves with less attractive rivals. However, there is not yet any evidence that male fiddler crabs actively move to court near smaller males.</p>
<p>We still know very little about how non-human animals process visual information so the perceptual effects of many illusions remains untested. There is variation among species in terms of how illusions are perceived, highlighting that every species occupies its own unique perceptual world with different sets of rules and constraints. But the 19th Century physiologist Johannes Purkinje was onto something when he said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Deceptions of the senses are the truths of perception.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the past 50 years, scientists have become aware that the sensory abilities of animals can be radically different from our own. Visual illusions (and those in the non-visual senses) are a crucial tool for determining what perceptual assumptions animals make about the world around them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Kelley receives funding from People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Kelley receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Visual illusions, such as the rabbit-duck (shown above) and café wall (shown below) are fascinating because they remind us of the discrepancy between perception and reality. But our knowledge of such illusions…Laura Kelley, Research Fellow, University of CambridgeJennifer Kelley, Research Associate, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/185082013-09-23T23:23:40Z2013-09-23T23:23:40ZFake finger illusion pokes holes in body ownership<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31768/original/8vhqx8cn-1379906785.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fake or real? A simple question with a tricky answer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">dhammza</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It may seem silly to ask yourself if your index finger is part of your body, but that question is actually perfectly reasonable in neuroscience research - and has led to important insights into key brain functions.</p>
<p>In a paper <a href="http://jp.physoc.org/content/early/2013/09/19/jphysiol.2013.261461.abstract">published</a> in The Journal of Physiology today, we, along with Simon Gandevia and Lee Walsh at Neuroscience Research Australia (<a href="http://www.neura.edu.au/">NeuRA</a>), showed how we were able to trick participants into believing an artificial finger was part of their body.</p>
<p>Day to day, the human brain uses sensory signals from what we see and feel to maintain and update an internal representation of the body. This helps plan and generate movements in order to interact with the world. </p>
<p>Our research shows that inputs solely from muscle <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception">proprioceptors</a> (sensory receptors that inform us about the length of our muscles) can quickly alter our brain’s internal body representation. </p>
<p>This flies in the face of <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v13/n8/full/nrn3292.html">previous work</a>, which has assumed that two or more types of sensory information are required to modulate this internal representation. </p>
<h2>A touching experiment</h2>
<p>In our experiment, the participant had their eyes closed and placed their right index finger in a pipe that could be mechanically linked to an artificial index finger - as shown in the photo below. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31758/original/p5txrt4g-1379902354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Héroux et al</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although in the same orientation, the artificial finger was located 12cm above participant’s right index finger. </p>
<p>The experimenter then positioned the participant’s left index finger and thumb on either side of the artificial finger in order to be able to move it back and forth. </p>
<p>On some occasions, the mechanical link was engaged and movements of the artificial finger and the participant’s right index finger were identical (synchronous), but on other occasions, the mechanical link was disengaged and movements were uncoupled. </p>
<p>Local anaesthesia was used for some of the testing to temporarily remove skin and joint sensory inputs from the participant’s index fingers and thumb involved in the experiment.</p>
<h2>An illusion of distance (or lack thereof)</h2>
<p>Following synchronous movement between the artificial finger and the right index finger, participants reported that their right and left index fingers were closer together (even level!) compared to when the movement was not synchronous. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31770/original/vbph2tfc-1379907737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cayusa</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This “illusion” of the fingers coming closer together was associated with participants feeling they were holding their own index finger: the brain had incorporated the artificial finger into its internal representation of the body.</p>
<p>During the course of this experiment, we discovered a new type of sensory illusion. </p>
<p>With their left hand located 12cm above their right hand, the simple act of grasping an artificial finger made participants feel that their hands were much closer together. </p>
<p>Grasping the artificial finger induces a sensation in some participants that their hands are level with one another, despite being 12cm apart. </p>
<p>This illusion demonstrates that our brain is a thoughtful (yet at times gullible!) decision maker: it uses available sensory information and memories of past experiences to decide what scenario is most likely, such as: “my hands are level.”</p>
<p>This new illusion is in line with the effect that was observed with the synchronous movement of the artificial finger and the participant’s index finger.</p>
<p>In both cases, the brain generates many possible scenarios: </p>
<ul>
<li>I am holding my finger</li>
<li>I am holding an artificial finger</li>
<li>I am holding someone else’s finger</li>
</ul>
<p>and rapidly compares them for consistency with incoming sensory information.</p>
<p>It goes with the best “match” even if it is wrong.</p>
<h2>Just one input needed</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31769/original/8pm2yqgj-1379907621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victor Bezrukov</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These discoveries provide important clues about how the brain uses sensory signals to generate and update an internal representation of the body. It also expands our current understanding of how the brain decides what is part of our own body, and exactly where these body parts are located. </p>
<p>Contrary to the previous theories, multiple sensory inputs (such as skin and vision) are not required to change this internal body representation. </p>
<p>In addition, the new “grasp illusion” shows that these changes in body representation can occur in seconds rather than minutes. </p>
<p>These discoveries will also provide new insight into clinical conditions where this aspect of brain function is disrupted due to changes in the central or peripheral nervous system. Examples of such conditions include stroke, schizophrenia and phantom limb syndrome following amputation.</p>
<p>These findings could lead to new clinical interventions where the addition or the removal of specific sensory stimuli is used to change someone’s body image. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18508/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It may seem silly to ask yourself if your index finger is part of your body, but that question is actually perfectly reasonable in neuroscience research - and has led to important insights into key brain…Martin Héroux, Research Officer, Neuroscience Research AustraliaAnnie Butler, Research Officer, Neuroscience Research AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.