... also many examples where we make errors. This is due to an incorrect correspondence between the proximal and distal stimuli involved in the perception of our environments (http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0110/0110036.pdf) The distal stimulus refers to the "actual" object or event in the outside environment, whereas the proximal stimulus refers to the input at the sense organ, in this case the pattern of light falling on the retina (www.psychology.uiowa.edu). If these two stimuli do not correspond with each other, then our visual experience will not be veridical, i.e. genuine and truthful, not illusionary (http://dragon.uml.edu/psych/illusion.html). This is exactly what occurs when we are presented with visual illusions. A visual illusion essentially "tricks" our visual systems into perceiving something that consistently differs from what we suppose to be correct, due to an incorrect correspondence between our proximal and distal stimuli (Wade, N.J. & Swanston, M.T. (2001) Visual Perception: An Introduction). Visual illusions come in many forms, ...

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