Studying Mouse Reactions to an Optical Illusion Can Teach Us about Consciousness

University of Tokyo researchers harnessed an optical illusion to reveal insights into how the brain processes visual information. The research focused on the neon-color-spreading illusion, which incorporates patterns of thin lines on a solid background. The illusion causes the human brain to falsely fill in and perceive a nonexistent outline and brightness.

Other studies have implied that consciousness is a top-down process, but this mouse study provides direct evidence for it, Watanabe said. The answer isn't black and white though, as some argue that consciousness likely arises from a mixture of both. By contrast, pure bottom-up processing would take the different features of an image and snap them together like puzzle pieces.