The Ebbinghaus illusion, a well-known illusion in which
two circles of the same size are each surrounded by circular ’petals’; one of
the circles is surrounded by larger petals, the other by smaller petals. Most
people will see the first circle as smaller than the second one
Scientists have shown for the first time that exactly how we see our environment depends on the size of the visual part of our brain. We are all familiar with the idea that our thoughts and emotions differ from one person to another, but most people assume that how we perceive the visual world is usually very similar from person to person. However, the primary visual cortex - the area at the back of the brain responsible for processing what we see in the world around us - is known to differ in size by up to three times from one individual to the next. Now, researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London) have shown for the first time that the size of this area affects how we perceive our environment. Their study is published online today . Dr D Samuel Schwarzkopf, Chen Song and Professor Geraint Rees showed a series of optical illusions to thirty healthy volunteers. These included the Ebbinghaus illusion, a well-known illusion in which two circles of the same size are each surrounded by circular 'petals'; one of the circles is surrounded by larger petals, the other by smaller petals.
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