Ground-Reference Illusions
During my career, I’ve spent a good bit of time analyzing the perceptual illusions to which we humans are prone, as they affect us pilots. It’s easy to find examples of simple or classic illusions, but when piloting an airplane, the things we see and feel are so complex that they don’t allow us to easily recognize an illusory situation.
Another factor is that our perception, especially visual perception, is designed to create a very detailed image of our surroundings. This fools us into thinking that the image in our mind is accurate. Our peripheral vision is blurred, and when in motion our surroundings are continually changing, so at any instant what seems so precise is at best a little behind. (Not all that is precise is accurate, especially in measurement.)
