The Science of Perception
Perception is the process by which we assign meaning to and organize sensory information to gain an understanding of the world around us. As simple as this may sound, perception is not really so because it involves a huge amount of sensory input plus past experiences combined with cognitive biases. This hidden image challenge would prove just the perfect example of how to manipulate perception to create a puzzle.
We process so many visual pieces all the time, but our brains can only focus on so much. When we look at an image, it immediately prioritizes some features of that scene: movement and color contrast over everything else, and familiar shapes. In the “find the girl” puzzle, a large object or area of high contrast draws our brains’ attention, and we have a tendency to simply miss how subtlely she is present there. The hidden girl can blend with the background, disguising herself among other elements such as tree branches, furniture, or shadows, which may make it challenging to find her.
With this phenomenon, we find ourselves overlooking things right before our very eyes; we are discussing how our brains filter and prioritize sensory input. It is a reminder of how easy it can be to miss important things in life if we do not pay close attention or focus on the wrong thing. The hidden girl challenge teaches us how hard it is to maintain our changed perspective and comes around to approaching things from different angles.
