It is hard to come to understand often, but we live in a world of make believe. People like to believe they know what they saw, but in reality they often didn't see it at all. Eye witness testimony is often wrong, and is more and more coming to be given less weight in our courts.
Our brains are designed to make a quick decision about if something is a threat or not, often just a guess on limited data, then as time passes it refines the guess. But once it decides what it "thinks" something is, it is not likely to changes its opinion easily.
This tends to be true of not just visual processes, but most cognitive processes. We make up our minds quickly, then look for data to support our decision. Whether it is sound, sight, touch, smell, or discussions.
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