Researchers have analyzed the flickering of lightbulbs for as long as they have existed. By creating a lightbulb that exploits this illusion, the researchers hope to create bulbs that save up to 20 percent on electricity bills.

In 2012 cognitive neuroscientist Stephen Macknik, now at the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, and his colleagues discovered an illusion that allows a light to essentially flicker off for 13 percent of the time yet appear as bright to the human brain as if it was on the entire time. 'You can reduce the amount of information in a signal and the brain fills in the gaps.'Īfter removing sounds that people cannot generally hear and then using traditional compression methods that encode redundant information to save space, MP3s can reduce the size of a sound file by 90 percent or so. 'Lossy audio compression absolutely involves an illusion,' says perceptual and cognitive psychologist Diana Deutsch at the University of California, San Diego. For example, if two sounds are presented simultaneously very close together in time, then depending on their frequency and intensity, the brain may only perceive one of them, a phenomenon known as masking. How does MP3 compression work? It eliminates generally inaudible sounds. An MP3 is a product of “ lossy audio compression,” in which parts of the audio signal are discarded to shrink a sound file yet cause zero to minimal perceived loss in the sound quality for the average listener. Here are 10 practical applications that use or control illusions, from warships to virtual reality to Michelangelo's David and the Statue of Liberty.Īll MP3s are based on illusion. Although illusions are by definition not real, scientists are increasingly finding ways to use them to make an impact on the real world.

Telescopes auditory illusions