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From: lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.)
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: misperception
Message-ID: <1096@ihuxr.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-May-84 14:18:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxr.1096
Posted: Wed May 23 14:18:54 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 25-May-84 00:58:37 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 42

Alan Wexelblat gave the following example of misperception:

-------------------
        A more "severe" case of misperception is the following.  Suppose
that, while touring through the grounds of a Hollywood movie studio, I
approach what, at first, I take to be a tree.  As I come near to it, I suddenly
realize that what I have been approaching is, in fact, not a tree at all but a
cleverly constructed stage prop.
-------------------

This reminds me strongly of the Chapter, "Knock on Wood (Part two)",
of TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA. Here is an excerpt:

	I left the place and walked down to the different street
	corner.  How beautiful the field looked and the creek that
	came pouring down in a waterfall off the hill.

	But as I got closer to the creek I could see that something
	was wrong.  The creek did not act right.  There was a strangeness
	to it.  There was a thing about its motion that was wrong.
	Finally I got close enough to see what the trouble was.

	The waterfall was just a flight of white wooden stairs
	leading up to a house in the trees.

	I stood there for a long time, looking up and looking down,
	following the stairs with my eyes, having trouble believing.

	Then I knocked on my creek and heard the sound of wood.

TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA abounds with striking metaphors, similes, and
other forms of imagery.  I had never considered these from the point
of view of the science of perception,  but now that I do so, I think
they provide some interesting examples for contemplation.

The first chapter, "The Cover for Trout Fishing in America", provides
a very simple but interesting perceptual shift.  "The Hunchback Trout"
provides an extended metaphor based on a simple perceptual similarity.

Anyway, it's a great book.

	Lew Mammel, Jr. ihnp4!ihuxr!lew