What’s the difference between how your body and mind make sense of the world?
I believe that the more we understand this difference, the more aligned we’ll feel with our environment, and be less afraid to live with bravery. Interactive Illusions is an experimental study I did in 2024 that combines art, philosophy and visual cognitive neuroscience to explore this question.
“Aha!” moments create a powerful alignment between our inner mental models and our external reality. The study uses an “interactive illusion” to look at how our visual system interprets things and how this interpretation can influence the clarity of our thoughts, our understanding of the world, and ourselves.
Participants’ brain activity was monitored using a Muse EEG device, a headband that captures brainwaves associated with different mental states.
The results suggest that engaging with visually complex art might stimulate our brains in ways that promote active thinking and problem-solving. Intricacy in visual art (like in illusions) seems to keep our minds more alert and engaged, potentially enhancing our capacity to gain satisfying new insights or perspectives.
