1) Visual perception is how we interpret and make sense of what our eyes see based on our prior knowledge and experiences. 2) Perception is influenced by culture, society, and personal experiences as different people can perceive the same thing in different ways. 3) Optical illusions demonstrate how perception can be deceptive as images are not always interpreted as they truly are due to the brain's interpretation of visual information.

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 percept 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. So, perception depends on our culture and our memory. PERCEPTION = SENSE INFORMATION + CULTURE

4. 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.

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

6. 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?

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

8. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS Which is longer?

9. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS Which of the internal circles is bigger?

10. Ambiguous shapes/forms What do you see?

11. Ambiguous shapes/forms A duck or a rabbit?

12. IMPOSSIBLE FIGURES Always upstairs... Or downstairs!

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

14. 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.