The brain can convince the eyes of just about anything. This is the problem with eye witness accounts, <snip> The witness statement they give can often be naive to the point of falsehood.
This is very true and why eye witness testimony can be deemed the least reliable evidence. This is not all of what is at play when the mind starts messing with perception though.
The brain knows nothing of the 'real' world, it takes all it's info from our senses and kind of concocts an image of reality. The brain constantly adjusts the raw data it receives; adjusts, fills out, adds, fleshes out... the image it creates is photoshop'ed, it's fake news even! And we're completely unaware of it for the most part.
That's not bad news though. It serves a purpose and works to our advantage the vast majority of the time. It's cool to be aware of though, gives rise to some real thought provoking A level philosophy type questions (what is reality?) and can be demonstrated as almost paradox in these alluring optical illusions!
I had a big bushy beard for several years but my girlfriend thought I was clean-shaven!
You had the beard prior to your relationship??
