The illusion of light constricts pupils

Natural Sciences[1] Natural Sciences[1]Biology; The body [2]Psychology [3]The brain [4]Norway [5]Forskning.no [6] Which of the figures below is brightest in the middle? Maybe when your brain plays tricks on you it isn?t a mistake, but rather a sort of improvement on reality. It’s an old philosophical question: when you walk down the street, seeing, smelling, hearing and feeling the environment around you – to what degree are you experiencing reality as it is? Animals’ and humans’ abilities to sense themselves and their environment have developed in the course of over a billion years of evolution. Still, sometimes it seems as if our brain is fooling us. Illusions are a poignant example. In the picture above you see two forms put together from identical pieces. One of the forms seems to have a glowing centre. In the other the centre appears dimmer. In reality the middle sectors of both are equally light. Our brain interprets it otherwise. It’s an optical illusion.