[Illusions: a window into perception]

Abstract

Perception is the active construction of a neural state that correlates with biologically relevant elements present in the environment. This correlation, far from affording a one-to-one mapping, nonetheless guides our actions towards adaptive behaviors, thus being forged under evolutionary constraints. Since the construction of a percept is an intrinsically ambiguous process, perceptual discrepancies can arise from identical stimulation patterns. The recognition of these discrepancies is termed illusion, which originates, however, from the same physiological mechanisms that ordinarily lead to standard perception. Emanating from different sources, such as optical, sensory and cognitive factors, visual illusions are useful tools in accessing the physiological basis of perceptual processes and their interaction with motor planning and execution. Here we examine the biological roots of visual illusions and their interplay with some neurobiological, philosophical and esthetical issues.