Visual perception depends on both what our eyes see and how our brain interprets that visual information. Our perception is shaped by our individual experiences and cultural background. Optical illusions demonstrate how perception can differ from objective reality, influenced by expectations, assumptions, and learned associations. Artists have also created impossible figures that play with visual perception beyond real-world constraints. In summary, seeing involves both the eyes and the brain, and perception varies between individuals based on their unique perspectives and interpretations.

1. VISUAL
PERCEPTION
THE WAY WE SEE

2. LOOKING AND SEEING
SEEING IS MORE THAN LOOKING
Looking is how our eyes build an image of things.
Seeing is looking with attention. All the people see
things in a different way.
The way everyone sees
is called PERCEPTION.

3. What’s PERCEPTION?
To perceive is to interpret what we see.
Our eyes receive information, and our brain
interprets that information. This
interpretation depends on the things we have
learned before about the object we are seeing.

4. What’s PERCEPTION?
• Perception depends on our culture and our
memory.
PERCEPTION = SENSE
INFORMATION + CULTURE

5. PERCEPTION
If we don’t know
anything about
astronomy, we aren’t
able to read the stars
in the sky.
Astronomers know
the name of the stars
and planets. They
see the sky in a
different way than
people who doesn’t
know.

6. CULTURE AND PERCEPTION
Some people perceive in a different way
although they are looking at the same thing.
That is because perception depends on
culture, society and personal experience.

7. CULTURE AND PERCEPTION
• For example, before America
was discovered, the american
indians never had seen a man
riding a horse. When they
saw spanish soldiers riding
horses, indians were scared
because they thought that
spanish were monsters.
Indians didn’t have any
experience about men riding
horses, so that was very
strange for them.

8. SENSE AND PERCEPTION
• Sometimes, our brain builds an image
different from the real one: sight is deceiving
us.
• Is really there the number 1 in this logo?

9. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
Optical Illusions are images perceived in a different
way that they really are.
Are these vertical lines parallel?

10. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
• Which is longer?

11. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
• Which of the internal circles is bigger?

12. Ambiguous shapes
•What do you see?

13. Ambiguous shapes
• What do you see?
•A duck or a rabbit?

14. IMPOSSIBLE FIGURES
•Always upstairs... Or downstairs!

15. IMPOSSIBLE FIGURES
• Can you find them in the real world?

16. ART AND IMPOSSIBLE FIGURES
• Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) was a Dutch
artist. In his drawings, he created a fantastic and
magical world full of impossible figures.

17. Swing, by Valentin Dubinin Castle of Illusions, by Irvine Peacock

18. ACTIVITY
1. Pay attention to the picture. You must
observe it during 5 minutes.
2. Draw the picture by memory in a sheet of
paper.
3. Colour it using your crayons.
4. We will collect all the drawings and compare
them with the original picture.