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Unconscious inference
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Perceptual_psychology/TdvIatTt">perceptual psychology</a>, unconscious inference , also referred to as unconscious conclusion, is a term coined in 1867 by the German physicist and polymath <a href="/facts/Hermann_von_Helmholtz/oFISedae">Hermann von Helmholtz</a> to describe an involuntary, pre-rational and <a href="/facts/Reflex/codE8Eff">reflex</a>-like mechanism which is part of the formation of visual impressions. While precursory notions have been identified in the writings of <a href="/facts/Thomas_Hobbes/VUGt3jNW">Thomas Hobbes</a>, <a href="/facts/Robert_Hooke/T5sEElp5">Robert Hooke</a>, and <a href="/facts/Francis_North,_1st_Baron_Guilford/mdAzX5PW">Francis North</a> (especially in connection with <a href="/facts/Hearing/EPYrVkSx">auditory perception</a>) as well as in <a href="/facts/Francis_Bacon/qMJoNMRB">Francis Bacon</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Novum_Organum/EfxQ8zCG">Novum Organum</a></i>, Helmholtz's theory was long ignored or even dismissed by philosophy and psychology. It has since received new attention from modern research, and the work of recent scholars has approached Helmholtz's view. </p><p>Elaborate theoretical frameworks concerning unconscious inference have persisted for a thousand years, originating with <a href="/facts/Ibn_al-Haytham/Q5H9hm4J">Ibn al-Haytham</a>, ca. 1030. These theories have enjoyed widespread acceptance for nearly four centuries, beginning with <a href="/facts/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes/ohqj6DMf">René Descartes</a>' contributions in 1637. In the third and final volume of his <i>Handbuch der physiologischen Optik</i> (1856–1867, translated as <i>Treatise on Physiological Optics</i> in 1920-1925, available <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180320133752/http://poseidon.sunyopt.edu/BackusLab/Helmholtz/">here</a>), Helmholtz discussed the psychological effects of <a href="/facts/Visual_perception/g7Tfaq2l">visual perception</a>. His first example is that of the illusion of the Sun rotating around the Earth: </p> <blockquote><p>Every evening apparently before our eyes the sun goes down behind the stationary horizon, although we are well aware that the sun is fixed and the horizon moves.</p></blockquote>