Why Do Illusions Occur?
The word illusion is interpreted in various different ways in various fields of study. In philosophy, illusion is something that is neither true nor false. In Hindu philosophy, this world is an illusion or Maya. Maya or illusion is true by itself but different from truth. Maya is also not falsehood. Illusion here is described as something that is necessary for the existence of mankind but not to attain his real goal (eternity). The interpretation of medical science on illusion is that it results due to some illness. For instance migraine is known to cause fortification illusions. The illusion can also be experienced by senses like taste and smell. If our tongue is not in a position to sense a particular taste, the illusion of that particular taste can be obtained with just visual stimulation or by touching that item. Illusion of smell can occur when we see an item labeled outside the package before it is actually seen inside.
Tactile illusions create virtual objects to exist in the situation though they are not present over there. Auditory illusion is another type of illusion that occurs when we hear the sounds that are not coming naturally but created by our brain. Basically all these types of illusions tell us that illusion deviates from reality and deviates from what the sensory organs normally perceive. Optical or visual illusions are well known and properly understood. When we are watching the performance of a ventriloquist it appears to us that the voice is coming from the dummy’s mouth but it is not.
When the mind struggles to identify the image that we see with the logic pattern and fails, it results in illusion. Optical illusion by an image causes the information in our mind not to be processed correctly. Illusions are generally considered as the type of unrealistic perceptions made by the brain like depth and motion perception which are perceived constantly. The other illusion types are perceived by the human senses which are made by the biological sensory structures. In the case of hallucination, distortion or deviation from the specific or real form takes place without any stimulus. But in the case of illusion, truth is misinterpreted in the presence of a stimulus.
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