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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Why are we surprised by only some of the things that we see? Dr. Shapiro, an associate professor of psychology at American University, is a vision scientist who has been designing visual illusions for use as stimuli in experiments investigating the perception of color, color contrast, motion, and brightness. Dr. Shapiro will discuss how and why he created the illusions, how the illusions inform us about brain function, and the implications of the illusions for understanding vision in the "real" world. Some of his illusions have won international awards at contests held in conjunction with scientific conferences; Dr. Shapiro often posts illusions on his blog, www.illusionsciences.com. The talk will be appropriate for a general audience and will cover topics related to neuroscience, psychology, physics, mathematics, computer science, philosophy, art, and design.
