optical illusion
- noun
- /ˈɑptɪkəl ɪˈluːʒən/
- Many artists use optical illusions to challenge our perception of reality.
As for consciousness in humans and other agents, I have a paper where I propose relying on experience of optical illusions.
- As for consciousness in humans and other agents, I have a paper where I propose relying on experience of optical illusions.
- And so it creates a, the, the mental equivalent of an optical illusion.
- The idea of seeing something that is in, in a sort, you know, in the optical illusion land of what you see is not what you see.
Examples
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Beau Lotto, of LottoLab Studio, gave a recent TedTalk that used optical illusions to demonstrate how we perceive the world.
Blog text (21) -
So the optical illusion works as you move through the Sistine Chapel.
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So this is a kind of optical illusion, another failure of the human eye.
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No, this is an optical illusion.
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It's actually an optical illusion.
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I suppose it is an optical illusion.
Fiction book (1999) -
A rainbow is an optical illusion made unique for each perspective.
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In one respect, a rainbow is more misleading, since it is nothing more than an optical illusion.
Academic text (1997) -
I think there is a bit of an optical illusion at work when looking at the horizon from altitude.
Blog text (32) -
The slight shimmer has an almost optical illusion effect that helps hide the stress of the day.
Blog text (30)
Synonyms
A magic trick that makes something look impossible
A false image of water on a hot road or in a desert
Antonyms
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both constituent meanings — 'optical' (relating to vision) and 'illusion' (a misleading perception) — combine directly to yield 'a misleading visual perception'. This composition is regular and cross-linguistically common, so an average B1 learner who knows the parts will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Optical illusion comes from the simple idea of a picture or pattern that makes your eyes see something that is not really there. The word optical means about sight and illusion means a false image, so an optical illusion is an image that 'tricks the eye' into seeing something different from reality.