Dolly Zoom Effect and our perception of the world

[Sec 3 and up: Biology / Psychology]

Want to be a psychologist? Here you go~

Perceptual constancy, one of the terms under the umbrella term of visual cues, isn't something you really have to learn, technically, but it's nice to know that some of the coolest things our eyes and minds do aren't even being consciously thought of. Manipulating the depth of the way we view things allow us to understand it better in 3-dimensional space.

Of course, that's not the only property at play. There's also relative size, as is the case when the cars on the street appear larger even when they're the same size; interposition, where we can tell that a curtain is in front of a window; shading and contour, where given how shadows are cast we can see either a moon crater or a mound of white ash, to name a few.

We all see things differently, and uniquely. You could have more cells or receptors in your eyes, making you see a different shade of red than your friend does. Some of you, like myself, may have different receptors in your eyes as well, and the world seems more reddish with your right eye while it appears more bluish with your left, or something similar to it.

You could argue that this, is why we do scientific experiments. Because everyone has a different perspective on the matter, because we need to define things as they really are. You could also argue, that if everyone's perspective was different, how would science ever be reliable? That's for another post, but today, take your time to absorb this concept.