Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20190126081959/@comment-24994749-20190131235755

On the subject of Neo's semblance:

Disclosure, I am going to work on the assumption that it is an optical illusion and that no other senses are affected.

An optical illusion is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual percept that appears to differ from reality.

Richard Gregory categorises optical illusions as follows: physical, physiological, and cognitive illusions, and in each class there are four kinds: Ambiguities, distortions, paradoxes, and fictions.

A case of physical distortion is the apparent bending of a stick half immersed in water. Physical illusions are caused by the physical environment, e.g. by the optical properties of water.

A case of physiological paradox is the motion after-effect. Physiological illusions arise in the eye or the visual pathway, e.g. from the effects of excessive stimulation of a specific receptor type.

A case of physiological fiction is an after-image.

A case of cognitive distortions are the Ponzo, Poggendorff, and Müller-Lyer illusion. Cognitive distortion illusions are the result of unconscious inferences and are the ones most people are familiar with.

Going by what we have seen of Neo's semblance, with the glass shattering effect, I lean towards her illusions being the physical and physiological type. With the glass that we see shattering being responsible for the stimuli that causes the people around her to see things that differ from reality.