This website gives good "demonstrations that we live in a brain-constructed world."
You are given quite a few optical illusions and explanations as to why our brain tricks us into seeing or not seeing things.
Particularly important to this class are the light trick illusions. The lighting of the crime is very important when determining the reliability of an eyewitness identification. For example, if the crime happened in the middle of the night and there is very little light, an eyewitness may report that they saw every fine detail of the perpetrator when in fact this is likely untrue. When sufficient light is not available and visibility is limited, the brain is given incomplete information. Therefore, if the brain is given incomplete information, it is likely that the witness will fill in the gaps with previous experiences and information, making the identification less reliable.
I'm not sure if the lighting is documented along with all of the other information that is initially document at the scene, but if it is not, it should be!
I thought the website was pretty amazing. It really shows the complexity of the human brain and how much it controls our lives. Knowing that, it seems crazy for some courts to put so much reliance on eyewitness testimonies when there are so many factors that can be influential. I think there should be psychologists present in every eyewitness testimony to inform the court about the reality and unreliability of some testimonies.
I found this website very interesting! Although I knew and have seen most of the illusions on the site, it was still fun to read about why our brain sends us those fake signals. And I totally agree with you that the strength of the lighting should be recorded at every crime scene. This could play a huge factor in identifying a suspect, and could possibly lessen the chance of making a false identification.
Even if the lighting is perfectly fine within a crime scene, our eyes can trick us into seeing other things that may not be present. For example, I do this all the time. I'll think I saw something in a room, when in fact, it was never really there in the first place. I also agree that there should be an expert witness in trials that can help to explain a person's brain activity, and how our brains can trick us into seeing things that may or may not actually be there.
Before reading this post, I never thought how these illusions could be related crime, but now it all makes sense to me!
I definitely enjoyed this activity. I will admit, if I hadn't read the whole blog entry before going to the website, I wouldn't have even thought about how this could relate to crime scenes and such. It does make sense now, however, that things such as visibility and lighting at the time of the crime should be taken into account when questioning witnesses because of these possible optical illusions.