WHAT WE SEE THROUGH OUR EYES ISN’T QUITE REALITY

WE’RE SEEING THINGS…

A study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found that how people perceive physical movements in others is distorted by their expectations. The experiment involved people watching a hand reach for a ball in a straight or arched trajectory, either directly or after passing an obstacle. When the hand was moving in an arched trajectory with no obstacle, the participants saw the hand moving at a lower angle than it actually was. When the hand reached for the ball in a straight line past an obstacle, people saw that as an arched trajectory. Lead author Matthew Hudson says that, “People ‘see’ others’ actions in the light of their own expectations. If you see someone look at something with a neutral expression and think they are angry, they might look a bit angrier than they really are. This might explain why people often get others’ actions so wrong and see ambiguous behaviour as meaningful.”