Perception & Illusion: Our first intergenerational encounter with proprioceptive illusions
That's probably what our guests asked themselves during their first encounter with proprioception-related illusions. To learn from another and with eachother how our perception changes as we grow old, we had three different agegroups. Therefore, we invited children from a local elementary school, regular students, and students aged 55 and older to experience how quickly or slowly their brains react. To maintain an intergenerational dynamic, we formed groups of five people (two kids, two regular students, and one 55+ student), who completed all the illusions together. They mastered the Pinocchio illusion, the rubber hand illusion, and two prism goggle stations. At these stations, they wore prism goggles that shifted their visual field 30° to the right while navigating a cone obstacle course or throwing juggling balls at a target board.
What we can see is, that the children shifted quickly between trials with and without goggles, whereas older participants had more difficulty.
In the interviews, some participants shared their experiences, reflecting on what they learned and enjoyed at our first intergenerational event. We all had lots of fun!