Optical illusions work because our brain “expects” certain patterns (e.g., that things further away get smaller etc.).
I wonder if through constant exposure to non-standard visual impressions you can teach a newborn child not to “expect” such patterns and hence become “blind” to optical illusions as it would simply see things the way they are (whether it may be parallel lines or of the same level of darkness).
Suppose you have posters of optical illusions on the walls, suppose you try to have as many things as possible upside-down, suppose you live in a room/house with lots of strange optical properties e.g., no angles at 90° and lines on the floor/walls which only make sense/fit together when viewed from one particular position), would this change your way of “seeing”?
Maybe for a specific type of illusion this could work. At least I have the impression that as a child I learned to toggle faster and faster between the alternative realities in pictures such as this one or this one, even when I had not seen the particular picture before.
Later edit: I just came across this hilarious “optical illusion” 
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January 13, 2008 at 8:46 pm
David Eubank
What boat? I have been interested in optical illusions for a long time. I think that if you subject a baby to some of these illusions what you would accomplish is a person who could see more clearly and perhaps increase child development of natural senses. Babies can only see in black and white for the first few months according to some researchers and many baby toys are designed with this in mind. These toys stimulate optical development, seeing. My youngest daughter stood on her head or lay in an inverted position to watch TV for years as well as to read. She finally stopped around twelve. We had a climber in our yard with a trapeze and rings where she would hang upside down for hours. Now in college she is a remarkable young woman who is a fantastic artist as well as a talented scientist, studying environmental biology. I remember once when she was five we attended a story telling fair in Tucson Arizona where we lived at the time. After a featured story teller finished his performance he asked if anyone in the audience wanted to tell a story. She raised her hand, got up on stage and mesmerized the audience and even the people in at Bar on the patio beside the stage, with a view, stopped what they were doing and listened to her tell a story about an old man and a radish. She was described by her Second grade teacher as a mover; she never stayed still and often viewed the classroom on her head, where she had a great vantage point from the back of the room. She can multi-task like no one else I have ever meant and was an A student throughout high school graduating with a 4.0. And yes she can clearly see visual illusions when others don’t. So what does this all mean? Perhaps she will see the world of environmental biology from an upside down approach and discover some new perspectives on our natural biological systems, or she my just spend a lot of time being a character or both.
January 14, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Ingmar Weber
Thank you so much David for sharing your story!!
Very fascinating.
All the best to you, your daughter and your family!