A new study shows that what we see is often a distortion of what is really happening. A short article about that study provides a good overview: Altered images: New research shows that what we see is distorted by what we expect to see:
New research shows that humans “see” the actions of others not quite as they really are, but slightly distorted by their expectations.
The study is here: Perceptual teleology: expectations of action efficiency bias social perception.
I think it is fair to speculate that the conclusions of that study apply not just to visual information, but to all information. For example, much of what we consider to be psychological continuity is habit based on introspective deformities.
See Psychology as “signs of something else” for more on this topic.
American Buddhist Net 