Five Illusions Challenge Our Understanding of Visual Experience

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AI-generated summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-17

Five novel visual illusions challenge inferential models of vision by suggesting that real-world visual experience is simpler and not inferential, distinct from purely cognitive inferences.

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Abstract

Do inferential models of vision provide us with models of visual experience? I argue they do not. Five new visual illusions suggest that real-world visual experience is much simpler than we previously thought. These new illusions suggest that real-world visual experience is not an inferential process. Instead, the visual processes modelled by inferential models of vision reflect purely cognitive inferences about our visual experience and/or the world. These five illusions provide us with new ways to tease visual experience and purely cognitive inferences apart.

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