When the Hand Ignores the Brain

In this display, the visitor experiences the confusion caused by an image that affects hand-eye coordination or hand-hand coordination.

Why the strange sensation? Because the position of our hand does not match the image we see in the mirror.

The brain is responsible for precisely directing our hand movements in space. To do this, it assumes that our hand is positioned exactly as we see it. In this illusion, we feel as if we're moving our left hand to the right, but in the mirror we see it moving to the left.

Explanation:
To give precise orders for performing a particular motor activity, the brain needs information about the location of our hands in space. It has two primary sources for this information: its own analysis of what the muscles in our body are doing, and the picture our eyes receive of what our hands our doing. These two sources of information usually complement each other and form a single perception. In addition, the information from our eyes provides the brain with feedback about our hand movements, which allows the brain to "make corrections" in the orders it gives to our muscles. In this illusion, we get the strange sense of feeling that we're moving our hand while seeing a different movement of the hand with our eyes.

Related exhibit:
Combined Senses