Conversations in Milan, Rome, or Madrid seem ever so much more animated and exciting than those polite chats over a tea cozy in Oxford, London, or Wetwang (Yorkshire). At least in part, this may reflect the greater physical rigor that denizens of the Mediterranean exhibit during their speech. As the New York Times put it: […]
Sensation and Perception
Those who can, do; those who can’t, play video games? Video games offer an alternative, simplified, gamified reality. Players can compete imbued with athletic prowess, military skills and tools, and superhuman abilities of all sorts, regardless of real world limitations. But some video games offer simulations that are remarkably life-like. Do players of those games benefit by […]
We are born with the neural circuitry required to detect the emotion in facial expressions. By the age of 7 months, human infants clearly distinguish between faces that are angry and others that are happy or neutral. At the same age, effects of parenting are also beginning to emerge, with infants of parents who are particularly sensitive […]
Most objects that surround us seem familiar and are easily identifiable even when viewed from the corner of our eyes. We are so quick to identify objects that it almost seems trivial, but just like speech production, object recognition is quite complex. How is object recognition actually achieved? Of course knowing what objects tend to be […]
If you have ever taken an intro class to sensation and perception, chances are that you have experienced the “waterfall illusion” as an example of motion aftereffects. You can try this yourself: Next time you stumble upon a waterfall, stare at it without moving your eyes for about a minute. When you then look at some […]
Who is an expert? Someone once suggested it’s “anyone who is more than 50 miles from home and is carrying a briefcase” or “someone who continually learns more and more about less and less”. The more somber but widely agreed definition in the cognitive community invokes reproducible superior performance in a particular domain. That is, an expert […]
Much of civil aviation ultimately relies on the human perceptual system: Pilots must avoid each other by scanning the airspace around them and identifying aircraft that are in potential conflict. This is a skill that can be taught—and during the 15 years that I spent teaching people how to fly, there were a few basic ideas […]
The parable of the Blind men and an elephant, a group of blind men (or blindfolded people or people in complete darkness) touch an elephant to learn what it is they are facing. Each person feels a single part such as a leg or the trunk or a tusk. The “blind men” then compare notes and […]