US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in the United States found that people are not able to recognize the truth through the senses and objectively look at things. Experts came to this conclusion on the basis of a series of “philosophical” experiments with two coins. The results are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a summary of the study is reported in a press release on MedicalXpress.
During the experiments, two coins were shown to the volunteers, one of which was oval and the other round. The subjects had to choose an oval coin, but since the round coin was at an angle to the line of sight, it also seemed oval. The illusion persisted if the coins were motionless, moved or were displayed on a computer screen.
Scientists expected that the knowledge that one of the coins was round would give the subject the opportunity to correctly and quickly complete the test, but this turned out to be a difficult task for the subjects. According to the researchers, this demonstrates how stereotypes can distort people’s perceptions.
When a person sees an object, the brain identifies it, combining the processing of new visual information with existing ideas about the world and assumptions. If you take a round coin and look at it at an angle, the brain will still recognize the circle. The same principle works when a person recognizes the real color of an object under different lighting conditions. However, until now it remained unclear whether the brain is really able to understand whether something is round, if it looks oval.
In the future, researchers planned other experiments combining philosophical ideas with the neurobiology of human perception.
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