As Ilusões do Romance: Estrutura e Percepção em São Bernardo de Graciliano Ramos é um estudo e análise da narrativa, dos efeitos do ato de leitura (ISER; 1996) produzido pelo romance, que se finaliza com uma compreensão histórica da obra, segundo sua recepção crítica surgida na década de 1930. A fim de dar conta deste último item de pesquisa, lançou-se mão das noções teóricas da estética da recepção (JAUSS: 1994). A partir do estudo, portanto, da estrutura do romance (segundo a teoria e análise do discurso), dos efeitos produzidos no ato da leitura e da recepção histórica dos textos, defende-se a tese de que São Bernardo é uma obra em que seus personagens funcionam como máscara de ideais literários, o que permite ao autor criticar os supostos efeitos causados pela ilusão do texto ficcional. Fato que faz com que São Bernardo deva sua modernidade exatamente à pluralidade discursiva, à indução da expectativa de valores literários, chegando quase a parecer-nos polifônico no sentido que Bakhtin estuda e propõe que seja a obra de Dostoiévski. Daí seu narrador, Paulo Honório, ainda hoje ser visto como um narrador pouco comum, atraindo as atenções da crítica e a deixando na situação embaraçosa da contradição, exigindo dela critérios de análise mais ético-moral que literários. / As Ilusões do Romance: Estrutura e Percepção em São Bernardo de Graciliano Ramos is a study and analysis of the narrative, of the effects produced by the act of reading (ISER: 1996) and ending with a historical perspective of the novel at the moment of his publication (1934). In order to contemplate the last aspect, it made use of the aesthetic of reception (JAUSS: 1994). So, in conformity to this succession, the work proposes the following hypothesis: namely, that the novels personages are masks of literary patterns. That was allowed to the author of São Bernardo to criticize the conventionality of some literary ideals by that time. What is almost the same observed by Bakthin in the novels of Dostoiévski and which he named dialogism. The novel\'s personages of Graciliano Ramos are effects from illusions produced by literary ideals embodied and established in his actions. Therefore, São Bernardo allows many interpretations. In general, the second novel of Graciliano Ramos has been read like a confession of the authors style: by Paulo Honório apparently to be a kind of narrator who hardly would write a book, most readers are induced to make choice of the morale criteria of valuation, instead of a methodology of literary analysis: what intercepted a modern point of view into São Bernardo.

This thesis is concerned with the psychology of magic and illusion. In particular it is focused on three illusions, which can be conceptualized as types of invisibility: (1) Illusions of omission - failures to see, (2) Illusions of commission - seeing things that are not really present, and (3) metacognitive illusions - people's false beliefs about their own cognitive and perceptual systems. The work presented in this thesis is set out to explore these illusions through behavioural visual experiments inspired by sleight-of-hand magic tricks. Across three distinct paradigms using stimuli ranging in complexity from static line drawings, to recorded videos, to live events, I demonstrate that manipulations of observers' expectations and attentional set can result in perceptions of visual events that are variously accurate representations, illusions of omission, or illusions of commission. I also demonstrate that these illusions are often associated with failures of visual metacognition, in that they are generally considered to be surprising and counterintuitive. In addition to these empirical elements of the project, I also consider historical and contemporary connections between experimental psychology and magic tricks. I show that, in some instances, magicians' misdirection techniques anticipated developments by experimental psychology by hundreds of years, and that the idea of investigating the mechanisms of magic tricks and illusions played a key role in the development of experimental psychology as a scientific discipline. Through this combination of historical analyses novel experiments, I show that the integration of magic and experimental psychology has a great potential to drive future research in human cognition and perception.

Research suggests that individuals experience Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) from chronic health conditions, such as the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. How PTG is perceived at early time points following stressful events and whether PTG reflects a coping process or actual outcome remains uncertain. Researchers have implemented research methodologies to validate reports of PTG (e.g., corroboration by partners/significant others), although most research designs are cross-sectional, which limit conclusions and subsequent implications. The current longitudinal study examined cancer patients` and significant others` perceptions of Anticipated Posttraumatic Growth (APTG), dispositional and situational coping, and PTG at three time points spanning pre-treatment to 9 months later. Participants consisted of 87 mixed-cancer patients and 55 collaterals (e.g., spouses, family members, friends, or other community members). At pre-treatment, patients and collaterals completed a modified Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) to assess APTG. Collaterals also completed a modified PTGI for patients. Results revealed that patients and collaterals reported high levels of APTG for themselves compared to reports of PTG in the literature. Patients` APTG was significantly higher than collaterals` APTG, although patients and collaterals experienced similar levels of PTG. Overall, patients over-anticipated PTG for all growth scales, and with the exception of the PTG scale of new possibilities, collaterals under-anticipated the level of growth they reported. For corroboration of growth, collaterals were accurate in anticipating the amount of PTG patients would experience, with the exception of the PTG scale of new possibilities. For patients, dispositional planning coping moderated a relationship between PTG and APTG, and situational planning coping mediated a relationship between APTG and PTG. Results of the current study provide evidence for APTG as a possible illusory phenomena, a coping process, and animportant precursor for later PTG. Additionally, the results have important considerations for the impact of cancer on the family and for growth as an observable construct. The findings are discussed in terms of relevant theory and implications for clinicians.

This thesis was concerned with investigating a visual-illusionary phenomenon that co-occurs with post-traumatic anxiety symptoms. More specifically, individuals who report recurring specific memories of a fearful event (RSM) also tend to report a persistent illusion of movement (PIM) upon prolonged visual fixation (Tym, Dyck & McGrath, 2000). The development of a visual test (i-Test) designed to reliably elicit PIM has enabled research to be conducted on the nature and correlates of this type of visual disturbance. The present research aimed: 1) To develop a standard protocol for assessment of PIM and RSM; 2) to test the reliability of the i-Test in eliciting PIM in a student sample 3) to test the predictive relationship between dissociation and anxiety symptoms with PIM and RSM 4) to formulate and test a hypothesis regarding a mechanism underlying PIM. The first study screened 142 participants for RSM and PIM using self-administered questionnaires designed by Tym (personal communication, 2001). There was an unexpectedly high rate (54.2%) of PIM and RSM (37.3%) in the sample, which appeared to be the product of questionnaire design limitations. Two semi-structured interviews were developed and subsequently tested on a new sample of 50 participants in Study 2. Study 2 documented intra-rater and inter-rater reliability co-efficient of sufficient strength to indicate good reliability for the semi-structured interviews. The results of Study 2 indicate that PIM is a relatively stable symptom over a 30-minute and one-week test-retest time frame. / The onset time for PIM was relatively consistent between participants, with a mean latency of approximately 7 seconds. The oscillation rate of PIM was relatively consistent between individuals, with a mean average oscillation of approximately 0.8Hz. The third study tested a sample of 148 participants using the revised assessment protocols. The base rate for PIM (16.2%) and RSM (18.9%), and the concordance rates (46% to 54%) were slightly stronger than the Tym et al. (2000) community based study (33%). In addition to this, 11 other illusionary phenomena were documented, however none of these visual symptoms significantly correlated with RSM. The average oscillation rate is comparable to the rate documented in Study 2, further establishing the consistency of the reported rate of PIM oscillations between individuals. In Study 3, each participant was assessed for levels of dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale), somatic arousal (Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire – Anxious Arousal Scale) and anxiety sensitivity (Anxiety Sensitivity Index). The results indicate that gender and dissociation significantly predict RSM status, and self-reported levels of anxious-arousal significantly predict PIM status. A multiway frequency analysis between the sub-components of RSM and PIM revealed that the physiological arousal inducing properties of the recurring memory is the only significant predictor of PIM. / The observed relationship between RSM and PIM may reflect the broader relationship between anxiety and dissociation. A pulsatile hypothesis was proposed as a feasible mechanism underlying PIM, due to the rhythmical nature of the visual disturbance, the range of the documented oscillations, and its specificity to psychological disorders characterised by cardiovascular sensitivities. All participants were administered the i-Test prior to and following aerobic exercise aimed at increasing pulse rate to 80% of maximum load. An increase in physical exertion significantly increased the latency of PIM onset, but did not impact on the rate of PIM. PIM rate appeared relatively consistent between individuals at 0.6Hz to 0.8Hz at the pre-exercise condition. Several participants who reported PIM also displayed obvious nystagmoid-like movements during the i-Test perceptual task. The role of eye-movements in PIM requires further investigation by future ophthalmological research. The final aim of Study 3 was to investigate the relationship between RSM/PIM and flicker sensitivity. Through the use of a Critical Flicker Frequency/Fusion task (CFF), each participant’s sensitivity to flicker was determined. In addition to detecting sensitivity thresholds, CFF is also considered to be a reliable indicator of the level of cortical arousal. / The results of this study suggest that individuals with RSM have a higher sensitivity to flicker than other participants, however there was a non-significant relationship between CFF and PIM. The lack of relationship between PIM and CFF may be due to issues concerning statistical power and effect-size. Future research is required to investigate this link in more detail. The overall results of this thesis suggest that i-Test elicited PIM is a reliable phenomenon that is associated with higher rates of traumatic memories when compared with persons who do not report this visual symptom. The strength of the association between RSM and PIM, however, does not support the use of the i-Test as a marker for the presence of RSM outside a clinical sample. The reliability of PIM as a phenomenon and its association with anxiety symptoms may be of theoretical importance in enabling future research to investigate the relationship between visual symptoms and anxiety-related pathology.

Emma Nordin: Emilie Du Châtelets analys av lycka: Upplösning av polemiken mellan illusion och förnuft. Uppsala universitet: inst. för idé- och lärdomshistoria, C-uppsats, höstterminen, 2012.   The 18th century is a time period known for its battle with superstition, illusion and falseness. With the Torch of Reason the philosophers of the time were set on vanquishing everything untrue and lead mankind into what they themselves called the Enlightenment. Happiness had moved from Heaven to Earth in science, truth and pleasure. But is it that simple? This essay will analyze and discuss the French philosopher Emilie Du Châtelet’s concept “illusion”, something she did not encourage people to vanquish, but to nourish and cherish. Her ideas of illusion did not only contradict the ideas of many of her contemporaries and predecessors, but the associations the word has today as well. Unlike many others she did not consider illusion as falseness that eliminated reason, on the contrary, only with the two combined could one be truly happy. Du Châtelet argued for the apparent oxymoron: conscious illusion. She showed how this worked in happy occasions such as love, hopes of glory and something as simple as a visit to the theatre. She did not construct these definitions and reasoning in a vacuum, but in constant debate with predecessors such as Spinoza and Hobbes and her contemporaries such as La Mettrie and Rousseau. This essay will show that the relationship between reason and illusion during the Enlightenment was more complicated than one might think and that Du Châtelet argues for a fully functioning and necessary combination of illusion, happiness and reason. Illusion was not necessarily something the philosophers of the Enlightenment saw as something oppose to, or even threatening to, their flickering Torch.

Data shows that many inventors continue to expend resources on their inventions even after they have received expert advice suggesting that they cease effort. Using a sample of inventors seeking outside advice from a Canadian evaluative agency, this paper examines how overconfidence, optimism, and illusion of control explain this fact. While overconfidence did not have a significant effect on inventor's decisions, illusion of control and optimism did have an effect. An additional interesting finding is that the more time people have spent working on inventions, the more likely they are to discount this expert advice.

The argument that the encapsulation of perceptual modules provides secure bases for the reliability of observation in scientific disputes is strongly rejected by Churchland. While this debate was carried around the illusions, it reached to a fruitless point because the notion of illusion, the meaning of illusions and its place in the cognitive system is ambiguous. In order to come to a meaningful conclusion, the debate should be enriched by some other and clear evidence.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjama Miulerio-Lajerio geometrinės iliuzijos įtaka sakadiniams bei sekamiesiems akių judesiams. Siekta nustatyti žmogaus akių judesių vaidmenį regos sistemai. Akių judesiai priklauso nuo iliuzijos nuo 0,1 % iki 10 %. Rezultatai rodo, kad sąmoningai atliktos sakados yra 40 % - 50 % labiau įtakojamos iliuzijos, lyginant su refleksinėmis sakadomis. Akies sekamieji judesiai, sekant taikinį, turintį iliuzijos efektą, gali būti naudojami objektyviam dinaminės (judančios ir dėl to stebimos trumpą laiko tarpą) iliuzijos, poveikio ir laipsnio nustatymui. Darbą sudaro įvadas, trys skyriai, išvados ir literatūros sąrašas. Išnagrinėti 45 literatūros šaltiniai. Darbo apimtis 52 puslapiai, įskaitant 3 lenteles ir 29 paveikslus. / There is dealing influence of Muller – Layer geometrical illusion to saccadic and followed eyes movements in final Master’s work. It is sought to set the role of human eyes’ movements to visual system. Movements of eyes depend on illusion from 0,1 % to 10 %. Results show consciously made saccades are 40 % - 50 % more influenced illusions compared with reflexives saccades. Followed eyes movements when they follow the target which has effect of illusion might be using to set objective dynamic (moving and therefore observed short time) illusion, influence and degree. The final work contains introduction, three chapters, conclusions and literature‘s list. There are explored 45 sources of literature. Workload is 52 pages including 3 tables and 29 pictures.

Egzistencinius klausimus galime sutikti gyvenime ir iliuziniame susikurtame pasaulyje. Vaidyboje kaip ir gyvenime egzistuoja socialiniai vaidmenys, turtuoliai, vargšai, kvailiai, juokdariai ir valdantieji, gražuoliai ir atstumtieji. Darbe nagrinėju žmonių tarpusavio santykius. Kūrybiniai herojai fiksuoja kasdienius savo atradimus ir emocijų nepastovumą grafikos darbuose tarsi dienoraštyje. Žmonės nešiojančius keletą kaukių vienu metu ir atliekančius keletą vaidmenų, menką išprusimą, nesavarankiškumą, įvairias psichologines ydas, tai iš aplinkos patirtų vaizdinių, emocijų, situacijų rezultatas. / Spectacle is a life, aim, expression and creative process that is observed by the audience. I am trying to reveal and indicate this process, spectacle and actors’ magic in a paper sheet. “Actors’ Wondering” is not only the movement but the new creative, personal process that is not always revealed for the audience. In the cycle of my works I discover the certain attitude towards confused and disappointed routine that is accompanied by the feeling of nonsense and emptiness.The personal relations are analyzed in my work. Creative heroes capture their discoveries and emotional instability in the graphic works as in their diaries. People wearing different masks and performing different roles, demonstrating low literacy skills, dependency, various psychological problems are the result of images, emotions and situation experienced from the surrounding.

Visual dominance. Our human perception, that with great authority, powerfully influences and controls all of our senses. In turn, our minds try to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in what we are experiencing, may that be in a chaotic world, a cacophony in colour or vibrations in patterns. This project explores disturbances in pattern and colour and how these elements can deceive the eye. Playing with elements such as opacity, layers and transparency the nine outfits presented in this project attempt to explore the principles of Gestalt psychology to create disorder and confusion. Significantly, the project discusses our perception of pattern and colour and how with small measures these components can outsmart our senses, highlighting the importance of psychological methods and techniques in design rather than scientific or mathematical.