Authors: Jacky Z. J. Yueh, Joan Danielle K. Ongchoco

Country: Canada

Description: Making sense of the causal connections between objects is not just a task of reasoning. We can also sometimes perceive these connections, as when two discs collide with each other. Beyond collisions, might perception extract more complex causal dynamics? Here we introduce a “rotating gears” illusion: if you fixate on one of two gears rotating side-by-side at the same speed, the adjacent gear will appear to rotate faster when the gears are causally connected versus not. Thus, our perception of dynamic properties, such as speed, may be altered by the underlying causal mechanics of the system.