Our brain does not simply passively receive the world around us – it actively creates its own version of reality by “teasing” sensory information in accordance with our internal models and expectations.

The Brain's Creative Filtering: Shaping Perception

Our brain does not simply passively receive the world around us – it actively creates its own version of reality by “teasing” sensory information in accordance with our internal models and expectations. Engaging in this remarkable process, our mind often fills in missing details by relying not on exact stimuli but on familiar images and meanings, thereby “refusing to see” individual letters or tiny details. This dynamic function of the brain is reminiscent of literary imagery, where perception reflects a character’s inner world and underscores the subjectivity of vision. Just as the classics described, a look into another person’s eyes can become a reflection of one’s own personality rather than an objective observation, demonstrating how strongly our expectations shape the interpretation of the surrounding reality.

In conclusion, the phenomenon where we overlook the most obvious elements highlights the active role of the mind in forming a comprehensive picture of the world – behind every apparent omission lies a powerful process of processing and reprocessing information that makes our perception lively and multifaceted.

How can the phenomenon be interpreted, when the eyes refuse to see the obvious, especially individual letters, considering that much depends on the brain’s functioning?

The phenomenon of the eyes “refusing to see” the obvious – for example, individual letters – can be interpreted as a reflection of the brain's work, which does not passively record reality but actively interprets and “teases” sensory information according to its internal models and prior expectations. In other words, the brain often fills in missing details, basing itself not on a specific visual stimulus but on what it deems familiar or significant. Thus, even if all elements (letters, signs, etc.) are present on the surface, the brain may “ignore” some if the focus of attention shifts to a larger or more important picture.

This can be illustrated with a literary allegory; according to Tolstoy, perception is influenced by the inner world of the person. He recounts that Pierre Bezukhov, when gazing into Elena’s eyes, sees only his own reflection and misses other nuances:
" Tolstoy in War and Peace describes how Pierre Bezukhov gazes into Elena’s large, beautiful eyes and sees only himself in them" (source: link txt).

Similarly, this reasoning echoes the philosophical ideas expressed by Augustine, who argued that the eyes themselves do not perceive the world objectively but through their own prism of perception, filling in the gaps of one’s experience:
"If they do not see themselves, then we must agree that they not only see where they are not, but in fact can only see where they are not" (source: link txt).

Thus, when we fail to notice certain letters or other obvious details, it is not so much a matter of a financial or purely visual incapacity of the senses, but rather the result of the brain’s complex process of filtering and interpreting incoming information according to its own internal logic and experience. This phenomenon reveals how actively our mind participates in perception, constructing a complete picture even at the expense of losing the finest details.

Supporting citation(s):
" Tolstoy in War and Peace describes how Pierre Bezukhov gazes into Elena’s large, beautiful eyes and sees only himself in them" (source: link txt)
"If they do not see themselves, then we must agree that they not only see where they are not, but in fact can only see where they are not" (source: link txt)