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OPTICAL ILLUSION

By: Delfina Rothschild

Michael Ham (VL)

ESSARP SCIENCE FEST

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Project Based Learning:

The Brain is Wider Than the Sky

As part of a PBL project in which we are investigating about brain anatomy and functions, I carried out an experiment called “The hole in your hand” which is an optical illusion that helps understand how the brain takes in information from different senses and how it is sometimes tricked. I used scientific thinking skills such as observation, measuring, comparison and inference.

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Can the brain get tricked?

Why do we see a hole in our hand?

How can we see something that is not real?

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What are we going to do?

We are going to see a hole in our hand!

But… How can that be possible?

Material we will need:

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MY HYPOTHESIS:

my predictions:

If my hypothesis is right, I will be able to see a hole in my hand. I think I will be able to see it for a couple of seconds.

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LET’S TRY IT!

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Conclusion

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When you saw a hole in your hand, each eye was telling the brain what it saw. It LOOKED LIKE you had a hole in your hand because each eye saw different things. One eye saw a hole in the sheet of paper. But the other eye saw your hand. Your brain took the information from each eye and combined it into one picture: a hole in your hand. But then, your brain had to make a decision based on what it was seeing. It had to ask itself, is this real? Do I really have a hole in my hand? You knew you didn't. That's only because your brain didn't just receive information from your eyes. You have other senses, too. You didn't feel any pain in your hand. So in the hole-in-the-hand illusion, you observed one of the brain's many jobs: to take in information from all of your senses and combine that information and then make decisions about that information.

Source: mysteryscience.com