New insights into how the brain reconstructs the third dimension
This is a new illusion in which random noise (left) is made to
look like a 3-D shape (right). Credit: MPI for Biological
Cybernetics A new visual illusion has shed light on a long-
standing mystery about how the brain works out the 3-D shapes of
objects. As dizzying as it may sound, the impression that we are
living in a 3D world is actually a continuous fabrication of our
brains. When we look at things, the world gets projected onto
the retina and information about the third dimension is lost a
bit like when a 3D object casts a shadow onto a flat, 2D wall.
Somehow the brain is able to reconstruct the third dimension
from the image, allowing us to experience a convincing 3D world.
A team of scientists from Giessen University, Yale and the Max
Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen has
recently discovered how cells in visual cortex might help solve
this mystery. They created special 2D patterns designed to
stimulate specific nerve