The Future of Perceptual Illusions: From Phenomenology to Neuroscience

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Editorial

03 February 2017

Editorial: The Future of Perceptual Illusions: From Phenomenology to Neuroscience

Adam Reeves

and

Baingio Pinna

4,658 views

10 citations

Editors

2

University of Sassari

Adam James Reeves

Northeastern University

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This Research Topic looks at the surprising world of perceptual illusions involving all the senses, especially those common in everyday life. Visual illusions may appear to be mere curiosities, amusing tricks for the senses, but they are useful tools for scientists to reveal and understand how perception works. All the known illusions and the scientific research triggered by them have demonstrated that perception is not the mere reproduction of the visual world, as suggested by naive realism. Although our sensations are accurate and truthful, they do not necessarily reproduce the physical reality, but they correspond to a meaningful phenomenological adaptive world. Therefore, these illusions can be better described by scientific realism, according to which the phenomenal world is the result of a long chain of perceptual organizations and neural dynamics in the brain.

Briefly, by demonstrating dissociations between the physical reality and the subjective perceptions, these illusions allow scientists to cast light onto cognitive processes (vision, attention, memory, creativity, consciousness, and perceptual development), onto logic and neural complexity, onto the structure of the phenomenal reality, and onto the computational methods used by the brain to construct perceptual experience.

The main purpose of the Research Topic is to provide a dedicated hub for a collection of papers in the multidisciplinary field based on illusions. This Topic includes new illusions, experimental results, reviews, and stimulating new viewpoints. This Topic encompasses phenomenal, experimental, and theoretical studies as well as new methodological approaches on perception, attention, memory, consciousness based on illusions. We also welcome advances in electrophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, psychophysical, and computational approaches providing new key insights into mind and brain mechanisms based on perceptual illusions in both health and disease.

This Research Topic looks at the surprising world of perceptual illusions involving all the senses, especially those common in everyday life. Visual illusions may appear to be mere curiosities, amusing tricks for the senses, but they are useful tools for scientists to reveal and understand how perception works. All the known illusions and the scientific research triggered by them have demonstrated that perception is not the mere reproduction of the visual world, as suggested by naive realism. Although our sensations are accurate and truthful, they do not necessarily reproduce the physical reality, but they correspond to a meaningful phenomenological adaptive world. Therefore, these illusions can be better described by scientific realism, according to which the phenomenal world is the result of a long chain of perceptual organizations and neural dynamics in the brain.

Briefly, by demonstrating dissociations between the physical reality and the subjective perceptions, these illusions allow scientists to cast light onto cognitive processes (vision, attention, memory, creativity, consciousness, and perceptual development), onto logic and neural complexity, onto the structure of the phenomenal reality, and onto the computational methods used by the brain to construct perceptual experience.

The main purpose of the Research Topic is to provide a dedicated hub for a collection of papers in the multidisciplinary field based on illusions. This Topic includes new illusions, experimental results, reviews, and stimulating new viewpoints. This Topic encompasses phenomenal, experimental, and theoretical studies as well as new methodological approaches on perception, attention, memory, consciousness based on illusions. We also welcome advances in electrophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, psychophysical, and computational approaches providing new key insights into mind and brain mechanisms based on perceptual illusions in both health and disease.

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Editors

University of Sassari

Adam James Reeves

Northeastern University

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596,995 Total views

514,814 Article views

70,805 Article downloads

11,376 Topic views

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Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience, Motor Neuroscience, Sensory Neuroscience

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