Weizmann Inst. of Science

Sometimes seeing isn't believing

Published in Pharma Law Weekly, April 13th, 2004

Researchers have worked out how our brains can sometimes fool us into seeing motion when there is none.

A study in Nature reveals how low-level neuronal activity contributes to a common visual illusion. Amiram Grinvald and colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, exposed cats to the "line motion illusion." When some animals, such as humans and cats, view a small dot closely followed by a straight line, they perceive a moving, shooting star. The first dot primes the brain for activity, the team reported, generating low-level neuronal activity in the visual cortex. Then, as the line appears, neuronal activity reaches a critical threshold...

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Source: Pharma Law Weekly (2004-04-13)

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