Tell me what you see in this optical illusion and I will tell you where you come from

“It was really striking. Moreover, ” says Ivan Kroupin, psychologist at the London School of Economics and author of the study broadcast on the prepublication server Psyarxiv and during revision.

When he. Meanwhile, his team gave this illusion to participants from the United States and the United Kingdom, 97 % of them first saw the rectangles-and 80 % never managed to see the circles. In addition, But when they brought the same image to the inhabitants of a village of Himba. Consequently, a semi-nomadic people of Namibia, they were amazed: 96 % of the inhabitants first saw the circles, and half could not see the rectangles at all! For example,

“In psychology, when you have a difference of 10 %, we find that it is a big effect. Consequently, There are downright reversed profiles. Similarly, tell me what you see It’s still impressive! Similarly, ” testifies Caroline Blais. For example, professor in the Department of Psychology and Psychoeducation of the University of Quebec in Outaouais, who did not participate in the study.

This difference could be due to our environment, suggest researchers. Furthermore, The industrialized world, especially in the city, is filled with buildings in rectangular shape and architecture in right angles. For example,

The Himba villages, in contrast, are made up of round huts surrounded by circular palisades. Furthermore, Our brain could therefore be better to notice the forms with which it is familiar.

Look further – Tell me what you see

It is possible that our environment even affects aspects of vision which takes place at the unconscious level. Nevertheless, such as the way in which our brain interprets shadows and light. Nevertheless, To have a clear heart. Moreover, the researchers presented participants with tell me what you see other optical illusions, which they believe are playing on more fundamental processes of our vision.

Again, the difference is clear. Only 10 % of Westerners resist the illusion of tell me what you see the coffee wall. recognize that the horizontal lines are not oblique, but very parallel. But 60 % of the Himbas is capable of it!

On the other hand. the majority of them (78 %) cannot find a square, a circle or a triangle in the Gestalt forms above, while 93 % of Westerners see it immediately. “Even when they are pointing to them, they really don’t see them,” says Ivan Kroupin.

According to him. these results could be explained more generally by the fact that urban environments are more standardized than natural environments. “When you saw a jar of mayonnaise, you know what all the mayonnaise pots look like,” he explains. Our brain may therefore take more shortcuts by analyzing what we see. ”

In more natural environments, there is no chain production or construction standards. It is then possible that the Himba tell me what you see look more at each elements of an image. that the brain is less extrapolation.

An old debate

The idea that culture influences our perception of optical illusions is not new. In the 1960s. researchers reported that the inhabitants of urban circles were more likely to the Müller-Lyer illusion (below) than those of rural backgrounds.

But the data, harvested a long time ago, are contradictory and confused. Recent studies have also shown that some animals also seem to tell me what you see fall into the Müller-Lyer illusion panel. as well as blind people immediately after having gained sight thanks to surgery.

Impossible, therefore, that this illusion is caused by what we are used to seeing in our environment.

Ivan Kroupin therefore wanted to try the experience more rigorously, with simpler optical illusions.

Caroline Blais, who studies how the environment influences fundamental visual processes, is delighted to see such clear results. “The vision, for a very long time, was considered something completely universal,” she explains.

And the problem is wider than the science of vision. “Even today. the vast majority of research in psychology is done on Western, white, university and urban people,” deplores Caroline Blais.

Because even if the differences in the perception of optical illusions are impressive. Ivan Kroupin is rather interested in what they reveal on more fundamental tell me what you see differences in our ways of thinking. According to him, these differences will go beyond our perception, to reach our ways of processing information, learning, thinking.

“We must not take our own understanding of the world as being neutral,” he concludes.