Stories by Susana Martinez-Conde

Is it possible to change public opinions, attitudes, and beliefs, through schooling, advertisement, or any other means? A study published two weeks ago in PNAS shows that Nazi indoctrination of antisemitic attitudes in Germany was extremely effective.  

Dozens of labs are investigating the internet phenomenon and developing new explanations

Many magicians use humor in their shows, both for the entertaining value and as a misdirection tool. But magic audiences not only laugh at the magician’s jokes, but also at the magical effects themselves. Magicians are happy to accept the giggles, but are also puzzled by them. Why should magic often induce laughter? 

Congratulations to the winners of the 11^th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest, hosted by the Neural Correlate Society! See them here, NOW!

Are illusions the exception or the rule in everyday vision? Do they represent visual processing errors or provide us with an evolutionary advantage? New research in lifelong blind people recently cured, may provide the answers.

Review the 2014 Illusion Contest Winners before the upcoming 2015 contest winners are announced!

16-year-old Paul Vermeesch recreate the impossible structures in M.C. Escher's Relativity--but with a Star Wars theme--in LEGO.

These illusions explore how magicians, photographers and performance artists lead us to see motion where none exists

Just as our visual system strains to see the vase and the two faces at once, we struggle to conceive of a motion that has a dual motivation: to put and to fetch.

As adults, we don't often experience radical violations of our expectations, particularly those that concern core principles of object behavior.

The latest project of photographer Laurie Simmons, who has previously portrayed life-like dolls in everyday poses, features live subjects with doll gazes.

Scientists have set out to demonstrate a causal relationship--not merely a correlation--between gaze duration and moral decision making.

A recent study shows that underestimating the value of current experiences leads people to make time-inconsistent choices. We fail to document the present, only to wish we had done it, in the future.

We are happy to announce the 11th edition of world's Best Illusion of the Year Contest!! Submissions are now welcome!

Neural pathologies have shaped great art throughout history

Scientists believe that idealizing one's partner can work as a self-fulfilling prophecy, where illusion eventually becomes reality. That is to say, people can help to create the partners they wish they had, by exaggerating their virtues and minimizing their faults in their own minds.

Lucid dreams are perhaps the most bizarre perceptual experience one can have. You are asleep and dreaming, but suddenly you realize that it's all just a dream.

I realized that I had somehow managed to forget a horrible account of my grandmother's deathbed. And I immediately wished that I could forget it for a second time.

Concentration affects how we detect and perceive objects and scenes

Some scientists conclude that even though we age continuously, we ponder the passage of time more at some arbitrary points in our lives than others.

"Too late" might be the two most tragic words in English, but what if you could rewind the clock? What if the past was not immutable? Would we regret past bad decisions more or less?

Scientists conclude that cute things not only make us happier, but they also improve our performance in tasks that require behavioral carefulness

Artist Ellen Levy teamed up with neuroscientist Michael E. Goldberg, Director of the Mahoney Center for Brain and Behavior at Columbia University in New York, to apply the concept of change blindness to an interactive art installation.

Illusion Chaser Susana Martinez-Conde is the 2014 winner of the prestigious Science Educator Award from the Society for Neuroscience!