Constructing Reality

The varieties of conscious experience.
by Jay Dill, Ph.D.

Traces of self

If you're like me, it doesn't take much time looking at a cloud to see a duck or at the irregular grain of wood to see a face. In fact, one of the most basic perceptual principles is the gestalt effect: the grouping of elements together into a familiar, whole form rather than a collection of separate parts. Read More

Reality (*some assembly required)

Consider an illusion that has the benefit of being unbelievable each time you see it, no matter how many times that is. In the Checkerboard Illusion, the squares labeled A and B are the same color, same shade, same hue, same everything. Square A is actually lighter than it appears, square B darker. A photometer could tell you this. And so could your brain, but it doesn't. Read More

Jay Dill, Ph.D.

Jay Dill, Ph.D., studies the neural correlates of the meditative state.

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