The experts over at the University of Queensland have been digging into this for years. They say, “Loads of scientists have busted their butts trying to figure out how these illusions tick.” But the honest truth is, more often than not, we’re still in the dark about exactly how our brains and eyes team up to pull off these mind-benders.
We do know one thing: the information our eyes scoop up goes on a wild, convoluted ride on its way to the brain. Sometimes, the mix-ups happen right off the bat. Other times, it takes some seriously complex processes way down the line to make sense of why we’re seeing things that just aren’t there.
And generally speaking, the later in that journey these “confusions” rear their heads, the more clueless scientists are about what’s really going on. It’s like trying to solve a mystery with half the clues missing.