1. A deception; a false, although often pleasant, notion; a misconception: The illusions of youth fade with maturity.
2. Semblance, a misleading visual impression; hallucination, false image: Mirrors give an illusion of more space in a room.
3. An imaginary appearance of something that seems to be real or which seems to exist: While he was sleeping, Sam had the illusion in his dream that he was a muscle man at a fitness studio and was so strong that the exercise equipment was breaking apart as he used each one.
4. The fact or condition of being deceived or fooled by appearances: A handsome face can be an illusion which disguises a mean personality.
5. A mental state involving the attribution of reality to what is unreal: Norbert was under the illusion that he was living in a castle as a king.

Troy had the illusion that his girlfriend was floating above his bed!

6. Etymology: "act of deception", from Old French illusion, "a mocking"; from Latin illusionem, illusio, "a mocking, a jesting, an irony"; from illudere, "to mock at"; literally, "to play with", from in-, "at" + ludere, "to play". © ALL rights are reserved.

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An aberrant taste sensation; such as, dysgeusia (abnormal or impaired sense of taste), hypergeusia (abnormally sharp or acute sense of taste), and parageusia (disordered, hallucinatory, or abnormal sense of taste); also classified as a "chemosensory disorder".

Acute peripheral pain which is reduced by multisensory interactions at the spinal and brain levels.

British scientists have discovered that people experience far less pain when they touch a sore part of their body with their hand; so, a gentle rub may very well help pain go away, or at least decrease.

• The researchers investigated what is called the "thermal grill illusion" or TGI, where participants placed their index and ring fingers in warm water and the middle finger in cold water.
• With the TGI, or thermal grill illusion, the brain perceives the cool water as painfully hot.
• The study looked at heat perception after participants submerged their fingers in water of different temperatures and pressed their fingertips together in different combinations.
• This allowed scientists to study the experience of pain without actually causing any injury to those who participated in the studies.
• The scientists involved concluded that touching an apparently painful part of the body will affect the way pain signals travel to the brain.
• While touch may help an individual to cope with pain to some degree, perhaps by easing very mild pain from a minor injury, it is unlikely to completely eliminate the experience of pain.
• Pain is a very subjective experience, and many factors, including psychological and emotional factors, affect the way it is experienced.