What do we see? #Perceiving images In this presentation the facilitator talks participants through different examples of images that show how we perceive images and how each person sees different things in the same image.

How do we understand what we see? - When we see something, we send visual information to our brain. - There it is analyzed and coupled with information already stored in our brain (for example memories of foreknowledge) or expectations. - The sum of this information is what we perceive. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

Does this also mean that what you see, is always what you actually see? - When we see something, we send visual information to our brain. - There it is analyzed and coupled with information already stored in our brain (for example memories of foreknowledge) or expectations. - The sum of this information is what we perceive. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

What is the front side of the cube? Participants can see different sides as the front of the cube: the one on the down-left or the one on the top-right. Ask a few participants what they think is the front side, and make them aware that they can also see the other side as the front side. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

You can actually influence your interpretation, the way in which you see things: the diagonal lines in the cube suggest a depth of field in the image. However the cube is in fact a flat, two-dimensional drawing. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

What do you see here? Ask the participants what they see when looking at this image. Because this drawing is very complex, your eyes move very rapidly from left to right. The faster your eye movement goes, the less stable the image appears: you perceive movement (the circles are spinning). August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

And here? Ask the participants what they see in this image. Probably some of them will see 2 faces (black parts of the image) and others see a vase (white part of the image). Our brain differentiates between between background and figures. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

What do you see here? Participants can see 5 pillars or 10 lines. Mostly participants see 5 pillars. This can be explained as follows: when things that are placed close to another we automatically perceive a relationship between them. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

And now? Participants mainly see 2 yellow pillars and 3 white pillars. When things look very much alike, we perceive them as belonging together. That’s why we see a clear difference between the yellow lines and white lines. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

What’s happening here? What actually happens in this picture: a line is drawn on the ground, and a person is lying next to it pretending to be balancing the line. What generally is perceived: someone is walking on a rope and is trying to balance himself. Why do we perceive it as someone balancing the line: our brain is stored with visual memory. The combination of a line and someone holding his body in such a way makes us conclude he is balancing the line. In other words, our eyes can be fooled. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

And here? Here it seems the statue is throwing the ball in the basket. However, this is not what is really happening. The way the picture is taken makes you think the statue threw the ball. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

What do you see here? On the left participants see a face, while on the right they see a bowl of vegetables. In fact it is the same image, but turned upside down. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

How many legs does the elephant have? We may look at the same image but still see something different: every person sees a different number of legs on different places. Ask several participants to point out what they see. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

And what’s happening here? This is a picture of a guy, facing towards the camera, and a girl, facing the guy. In this way it looks the guy has a very long beard. August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

So what can you say about the images we just looked at? See next slide for answers August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images

To sum up People may look at the same image but see different things. What we perceive is not always what we see. Aspects of an image catch the attention of the viewer in a certain way (for example: when objects are placed together, we think they belong together - like the lines becoming pillars). August 2019 What do we see? | #Perceiving images