How our minds trick us

As I was looking through the book for something interesting to write about I stumbled upon some pictures and tests that made me think. Even being predisposed to many of these ideas I still had trouble finding out all the subtle tricks involved in fooling me and many other human minds. These tests were found on pages 128, 129, and 133 in the psychology book if you want to test out your own wits on these perceptual conundrums. If you're just a casual reader there are many optical illusions you can find easily on the internet. The section they were in is titled Sensation and Perception, which is chapter 4. I've always been interested in sensation and perception and how the brain works, and in these cases doesn't work and I look forward to finding these answers in the coming weeks. Though from my short readings on this subject I did pick up a few reasons why we get fooled like we do. One of those reasons we become fooled by these illusions is because of perceptual sets, which form when our expectations influence our perceptions. If you look at the picture below you will see just this happening. The misshapen letter can be seen as either an A or and H depending on the surrounding letters.