Letter from the Editor; 105 Mind-Bending Illusions; Special
Editions; by Mariette DiChristina; 1 Page(s) "The camera does
not lie," the saying goes. And we tend to think of our eyes and
our other sensory organs as video equipment, faithfully
recording all the details of our busy lives. As you will learn
from the articles on illusions collected in this special issue,
however, we see with our brains, not with our eyes. And our
brains make instant value judgments about the jumble of incoming
sensory information, depending on what is important at that
moment to us, to create a sensible narrative of the world around
us. Rather than pondering every bit of light that enters our
orbs, the brain quickly jumps to conclusions, based on millions
of years of evolution. Humans are intensely visual creatures,
and we have developed an incredible apparatus for detecting
things that are critical to our survival, such as predators,
prey and mates. For instance, we can instantly mentally assemble
several tiny patches of orange w