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I keep thinking about the picture of the leopards that we looked at this week. After looking at them, I have come to the conclusion that the leopard in the foreground is looking straight ahead, and the one in the background is looking over its left shoulder. Of perhaps more importance, what is it about our visual system that allows us to perceive multiple meanings in a single image?

Whenever I see optical illusions I think of elementary school when we used to look at optical illusions in art class. I distinctly remember heated arguments about what the pictures displayed. Each one of us saw an image and adamantly defended this perception as the sole interpretation. Of course, we knew that there was another meaning to the picture but it took great effort and time to get a classroom of first graders to see both sides of the optical illusion. The teacher would have to slowly and meticulously point out the aspects of each illusion. Even still, many of us struggled to easily switch between the two images.

Unfortunately throughout most of my education I have been deprived of optical illusions, until the other day. This was the first time I looked at one in a classroom setting since first grade. I was immediately struck by the dynamic visual ability of such mature adults. What is it that allows us to see both images of an optical illusion? We can switch between the images (like the animated cube), whereas previously I could only see one version without great effort.

I am guessing that as we mature, we also gain a more dynamic relationship with our sensory input. Perhaps we learn how to interpret these inputs in more complex ways. More importantly, we seem to realize that our senses should not be endowed with unquestioning faith. It is possible that our interpretation of the world is not the sole interpretation. As we cross between interpretations, we identify that our surroundings may have multiple meanings. This is a sign of maturity; we are not arguing like first graders whether the leopard is looking forward or backwards (but you should know that my interpretation shown above is the best one). Maybe this is the sign of a more experienced relationship between the i-function and the sensory inputs?