As part of our vision science curriculum, we have many interactive demos and illusions to present to students! They are broken down into modules to help students conceptualize the various components of the human visual system and to better understand how we perceive the world with our eyes and our brain.
What are they?
- Feature Presentation: Color Blindness Simulation
- Color
- Motion
- Shadows, Reflection and Depth
- Faces
What to expect.
Once we set up and introduce ourselves, we will show your students many engaging and awe inspiring visual illusions, hands-on demonstrations, and examples of visual phenomena that will give eager learners special insight into the way their eyes and brains process the visual world around them.
A typical vision day schedule includes a feature presentation where students can experience what it's like to have color blindness, followed by the 4 separate, but related, vision demo modules which students will experience in small groups.
For more info on what to expect in terms of timing and planning, please see our timeline!
How do we do this?
Our goal is to inspire a scientific interest in students who feel that science may be overwhelming and perplexing. We hope that our demos and lessons will encourage students to think about how the science behind vision affects their daily life.
By breaking the many facets of visual neuroscience into separate, accessible modules, we can make the complex concepts we hope to share easily enjoyable and understandable, without detracting from the hard science or relevant information.
For some of the specific details involved in each of the modules, read on!
Feature Presentation: Color Blindness Simulation
This popular demo involves blocking out all natural light in a large classroom or meeting room where we can power several sodium lights, which will emulate an extreme example of the phenomenon of color blindness.
Color
In well lit conditions, we perceive color as different wavelengths of light come in contact with the 3 types of cone photoreceptors in our retina. Students will be able to appreciate the way they see the world in full color as we demonstrate examples of color adaptation, aftereffect and relative color.
Motion
Just because an object isn't moving doesn't mean that it won't appear to be moving! This vision module highlights the way in which our ability to see the world around us move can be disrupted or tricked with illusions like the rotating snake, the flash-lag effect and various methods of creating biological motion.
Shadows, Reflection and Depth
While binocular vision is necessary to see illusions like magic eye posters and 3D movies, many inferred and monocular visual cues become important for seeing depth, shadows and reflections in the world. Here, we combine classic examples like the Ames Room, with other intriguing domains that subtely involve depth perception, such as artwork, impossible objects and size constancy.
Faces
Humans perceive faces using their entire brain, with specific regions (like the fusiform face area) being especially critical for successful recognition of faces. In this module, students will learn about how the depth of faces can be manipulated with hollow models, how inverted faces contain altered emotional content, and how inanimate objects can often appear face-like.
Why are we so excited about vision?
Because we use it every day!
If you're interested in learning more about our outreach program, please visit our frequently asked questions page, or send us an email with more specific questions here.
We'd love to visit your school and show your eager students what advanced vision research is all about, and if you become as excited as we are, we can even leave you with materials for further learning and exploration!
Who are we?
Check us out on our lab website here!