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Stories by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran is a professor and director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego. Ramachandran's accolades include receiving the Henry Dale Prize of the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London, giving the 2003 Reith Lectures for the BBC and participating in the 2012 Gifford Lectures in Glasgow.

Shadows and Illusions

The way we detect shape and depth from shading reveals some primeval rules that govern how we see the world

July 14, 2016 — Chaipat Chunharas and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Reflections on the Mind

Experiments with a simple mirror setup can reveal much about the workings of the brain

August 18, 2011 — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran

The Ghost Hand Illusion

Spooky fun with afterimages

March 14, 2011 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Reading between the Lines: How We See Hidden Objects

When an object is partially hidden, the brain deftly reconstructs it as a visual whole

August 30, 2010 — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran

Extreme Function: Why Our Brains Respond So Intensely to Exaggerated Characteristics

How quirks of perception drive the evolution of species

August 2, 2010 — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran

Hey, Is That Me over There?

And other real-life tales from the bizarre realm of out-of-body experience

April 13, 2010 — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran

Aristotle's Error

Using aftereffects to probe visual function reveals how the eye and brain handle colors and contours

March 15, 2010 — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran

A Moving Experience: Illusions That Trick the Brain

How the eyes can see movement where it does not exist

January 26, 2010 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Illusions: The Mona Lisa and Abraham Lincoln

What do the famous portrait and the former U.S. president have in common?

December 10, 2009 — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran

Two Eyes, Two Views: Your Brain and Depth Perception

Insights into the nuances of depth perception provided by our two eyes' slightly different views of the world

October 21, 2009 — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran

Seeing in Stereo: Illusions of Depth

Binocular vision gives us depth perception—and enables us to play some tricks

August 14, 2009 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Mind the Gap

The brain, like nature, abhors a vacuum

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Cracking the da Vinci Code

What do the Mona Lisa and Abraham Lincoln have in common?

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

The Neurology of Aesthetics

How visual-processing systems shape our feelings about what we see

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Hidden in Plain Sight

Camouflage in fish and other animals provides insights into visual perception

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

The Phantom Hand

The feeling of being touched on a fake hand illuminates how the brain makes assumptions about the world

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

When the Two Eyes Clash

A tale of binocular rivalry

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Sizing Things Up

When you hoist two items of equal weight, your brain may be doing some heavy lifting

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Ambiguities & Perception

What uncertainty tells us about the brain

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

A Moving Experience

How the eyes can see movement where it does not exist

May 1, 2008 — Diane Rogers-Ramachandran and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

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