“Thus every act of perception, even something as simple as viewing a drawing of a cube, involves an act of judgment by the brain.”
Can we ever believe our own eyes? The answer is no, seeing is not always believing, and our eyes see what our mind tells us to see. Our perception of what we see is also based on own experiences, feelings and judgements. People often say " are you blind" when a person disagrees with their opinion whether positively or negatively on a particular object. For example if a painting is perceived as aesthetically pleasing depends on your opinion and is definitely a judgement call. Similarly, we can use the commonly used expression of "is the glass perceived as half full or half empty". Again there is no right or wrong answer to this, it as again a judgement call. A man in a desert who is desperately thirsty will conjure up the mirage of an Oasis in the desert. His brain desperately wants to believe that the illusion is reality and therefore the mind plays tricks and convinces the eyes. Similarly when a psychiatrist asks a patient to see an image he sees in a card he may see in the blackened sillouette a vase or human face dependent on his psychological state of mind that the doctor is then able to assess.
Therefore, the statement "thus every act of perception, even something as simple as viewing a drawing of a cube, involves an act of judgement by the brain" holds true by all accounts. When we watch the drawing of a cube the brain has to make certain judgements. Even when the retinal image is kept constant, the cube may seem to flip in front of our eyes.
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