Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

alexa09's picture

a perfect apple through imperfect eyes

 

When I drew a picture of an apple, my art teacher told me it was wrong. I thought, how can a drawing of an apple be incorrect? It has a sphere-like shape with indents on the top and bottom, a stem, and a leaf. My teacher said that my drawing was of a very pretty apple, but incorrect none the less. I had drawn an apple that did not exist; an idealized apple, without the imperfections in texture and shape like the apple in front of me.

It’s interesting to find that we do indeed have ideal images and thoughts of how things should be. However it is hard to realize that we do idealize everything we see. Our eyes see one thing and our brains seem to tell us another. Everyone has different ways of seeing things although the same “equipment” is being used (eyes, neurons, brain). Perhaps the brain is behind the different interpretations of what everyone sees. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder;” this is a very true statement if everyone’s brain is interpreting things differently. There is also the level of detail that a person’s brain catches. When flipping through the pages of I Spy some people can spot the items much quicker than others. Assuming that everyone has perfect vision, naturally or by other means, everyone has the ability to see the hidden items. It is the brain that deciphers these images to actually see realistically what is on the page.

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
10 + 3 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.