Why an illusion blog?

Welcome to the Illusion Science blog

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Illusions are fun to write about since they sit at the crossroads of Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Art, Physics, Mathematics, and Philosophy.   

I primarily (but not exclusively) write about illusions that can be called “research-generated phenomena” — that is, illusions created to test various hypotheses about the brain and perception.  This blog (like its previous incarnation, illusionsciences.com) will therefore concentrate on phenomena discussed in the research literature and will invite observers to ask questions about how the brain constructs representations of what we call reality.

One goal of the blog is to talk about perception in general.  I occasionally teach a course entitled “Distortions of Reality,” which explores the complicated nature of reality/illusions from a wide variety of perspectives: perceptual, cognitive, societal, personal, historical, artistic.  The blog is intended as a location for me to address these cool topics, particularly since the topics seem so timely, with “post-truth” recently becoming the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year, and people in various media outlets concerned about the nature of and (in)attention to truth.  I hope my blog will contribute positively to the discussion.  

Thank you for visiting this page.

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