Push over

By: Johnny Palacio, Thomasia Stewart,

Sabrina Urbano and Grayson Grimes

Have participant stand right in front of illusion where the

image occupies most of their vision.

Ask the participant to stand on one foot.

Allow participant to get balanced

When participants feel they are balanced, gently swing the

picture to the left.

This illusion works due to your brain using visual clues from the
world around us to keep our balance. As the vertical lines move,
your brain attempts to compensate for their motion, slowly
throwing yourself off balance. (Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception, 2006).

Figure 2: The picture above is an example of the effect the

illusion has on the participant

Instruction for Using the Push over Illusion

Instructions

How visual information gets

When light enters through the cornea, the cornea has the ability to refract
and bend the light rays. The iris shrinks and expands to determine how
much light enters the eye, and after passing through the iris, the light is
concentrated by the lens. The light is then focused onto the retina. The
retina has photo receptor cells that convert the light into electrical signals
that our brain can see.

Figure 2: The illustration above is the how light enters the brain
and eventually travels to the occipital lobe

The electrical signals travel down the optic track to the brain where the
brain comprehends what it is seeing at the time.

How Visual Information Gets From the Eyes to the Brain

from the eyes to the brain

There are two different types of processing theories for the brain.
One of these is Bottom up processing is the process of gaining knowledge
of a topic by interaction and using your sense. (Gerrig, 2008) Top down
processing is having a prior knowledge of a task that has occurred more
than once . The identification of this is based on the past experiences
and from then on what should be seen. Top down allows judgments to
influence the stimulus and information.

The Push Over uses the theory of bottom up . This is due to the way
a participant will use there sensory data. From the participant using the
sensory data the results will be passed going upward and toward and
become more abstract .

Examples:
Top Down: An example would be if your parents are yelling or
have yelled at you to take the rash out. If they begin to yell at you to
take it out again you have prior knowledge of knowing their going to do
it so you take it out anyways to avoid getting yelled at.

Bottoms Up: When a person wakes up in the middle of the

night while being dark trying to find an item in an unknown room.
While that person is walking around feeling everywhere theyll have
prior knowledge of where everything is in case it happens again

Bottom Up and Top Down

Top down bottom up

The regions of the brain that create our illusions

would be the area MT/V5 (Middle temporal cortex)
this area is activated by motion. (Kalat,2013) The
main function of this part of the brain plays a part
to mostly the awareness of movement. Meaning
the brain is alert when objects are being moved.

In area MT the cells respond selectively to

when an object moves in a certain speed
and/or direction (Kalat, 2013)

The dorsal area of MST respond better to

more complex stimuli for an example;
expansions, contractions, or rotations of
objects. This is the kind of experience
when moving your head forwards,
backwards, or tilting your head a certain
angle. .(Gerrig,2008)

Figure 3: The illustration above shows the separate lobes of the brain

The Parts of the Brain Involved with the Creation of this Illusion

The Parts of The Brain

Resources

Gerrig R.J. & Zimbardo P.G. (2008). Psychology and Life

Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception (2006). Push

over. Retrieved from http://exs.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/
push-over/

Resources

Kalat. J.W. (2013). Biological Psychology. Parallel Processing in the

Visual Cortex