現代科學解釋了三種古老的光學錯覺

現代科學解釋了三種古老的光學錯覺

Illusions have fascinated humans for centuries. Before we fully understood the science of sensation and perception, philosophers like Aristotle simply observed the world—and picked up on some weird stuff. According to Vincent Hayward, who studies such phenomena at the Institute for Intelligent Systems and Robotics in Paris, these tricks occur when experience and context make you expect one feeling but perceive another due to abnormal circumstances. Here are three of Aristotle’s earliest observed illusions, explained by modern science.

幾個世紀以來，幻覺一直讓人類著迷。在我們完全理解感知科學之前，像亞里士多德這樣的哲學家只是簡單地觀察世界，并注意到一些奇怪的東西。巴黎智能系統(tǒng)與機器人研究所的文森特·海沃德研究過這類現象，他表示，當經歷和環(huán)境讓你期待一種感覺，但由于不正常的環(huán)境，你會感知到另一種感覺時，這些技巧就會出現。以下是亞里士多德最早觀察到的三種錯覺，并由現代科學加以解釋。

Waterfall illusion

瀑布錯覺

While watching a moving river, Aristotle noticed that when he shifted his attention to stationary rocks, they wiggled upstream. Neurons that process motion tire after focusing on the same activity. When struck with a still object, cells that track movement in the opposite direction have a stronger impact in comparison, and send it swimming away.

在觀察一條流動的河流時，亞里士多德注意到，當他把注意力轉移到靜止的巖石上時，它們會向上游擺動。處理運動的神經元在專注于相同的活動后會疲勞。當被靜止的物體撞擊時，與之相反方向運動的細胞會產生更大的沖擊力，并使其游走。

Afterimages

后像

After staring directly at the sun (not recommended), Aristotle saw a glowing disc shaped like our local star in his vision for a few lingering moments. When you fixate on something, color receptors in your eyes become overstimulated. Upon looking away, those receptors keep firing and create an imprint, or afterimage, of that object everywhere you look.

在直視太陽之后(不推薦)，亞里斯多德在他的視野中看到了一個類似太陽形狀的發(fā)光圓盤，片刻后會有所緩解。當你注視某物時，眼睛里的顏色感受器會受到過度刺激。當你把目光移開時，這些感受器就會不停地發(fā)出信號，并在你看到的任何地方留下那個物體的印記或后像。

Aristotle’s illusion

亞里士多德的錯覺

Close your eyes and hold any rounded object like your nose or a pen (Aristotle may have used a pea) between two crossed fingers. The resulting sensation feels like two separate objects. Your noggin isn’t used to the opposite sides of your fingers touching the same thing. Without your sight to set you straight, the brain assumes it’s touching two different items.

閉上眼睛，用兩個交叉的手指握住任意一個圓形的物體，比如鼻子或筆(亞里士多德可能用過豌豆)。由此產生的感覺就像兩個分離的物體。你的腦袋不習慣你手指的兩邊接觸同一件事。如果你沒有用眼睛去矯正，大腦就會認為它接觸了兩個不同的物體。