Philosophy of Perception

https://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/cmabridge/ This article was the basis of my presentation in class, but due to the 5 minute time limit I was only able to mention a fraction of the information. The page focuses on the original "copypasta" text: Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. He breaks this down sentence by sentence, first doing a quick search to see if there's actually research being done at Cambridge University on the topic (there's not). He lists a multitude of studies that are relevant to the orders of the letters, the impact these jumbles have on reading speed, and more. The article makes a strong case that we read wo

First of all, I do not condone the usage of any of the drugs discussed in the article. I am simply interested in their effects on the mind and our perception of the world. As we have learned throughout the course of the semester our mind and sensory systems are constantly interacting and rely on each other to create each individual perception of the world. This particular article is incredibly interesting. Using Magnetoencephalography (MEG), a neuroimaging technique used to map brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by naturally occurring electrical signals in the brain, these researchers were able to discover an increased diversity in spontaneous neural signals when under the effect of psychoactive doses of LSD, psilocybin, and ketamine. More importantly, these neural signals were occurring more often than during states of normal waking consciousness. Because of how intertwined our consciousness and sensory systems are, it is reasonable to connect a higher level of con

This video discusses a rare condition known as Alice in Wonderland syndrome in which sufferers experience an altered perception of size.  Sufferers will struggle to accurately perceive the size of objects, people, and even themselves, often perceiving things as either very small or unrealistically large. Referenced briefly in our first reading, "What Do the Blind See When They Dream," Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is one of many conditions/disorders in which sufferers experience drastic or hallucinatory disruptions to perception, highlighting the ways in which our senses can deceive us.

Being a Beast A passionate naturalist explores what it’s really like to be an animal—by living like them How can we ever be sure that we really know the other? To test the limits of our ability to inhabit lives that are not our own, Charles Foster set out to know the ultimate other: the non-humans, the beasts. And to do that, he tried to be like them, choosing a badger, an otter, a fox, a deer, and a swift. He lived alongside badgers for weeks, sleeping in a sett in a Welsh hillside and eating earthworms, learning to sense the landscape through his nose rather than his eyes. He caught fish in his teeth while swimming like an otter; rooted through London garbage cans as an urban fox; was hunted by bloodhounds as a red deer, nearly dying in the snow. And he followed the swifts on their migration route over the Strait of Gibraltar, discovering himself to be strangely connected to the birds. A lyrical, intimate, and completely radical look at the life of animals—human and other—

https://study.com/academy/lesson/self-perception-theory-definition-and-examples.html This link relates to how perception can be pointed inward upon ourselves. Addressing this is the Self Perception theory, which plays the idea that people create their attitudes by observing their own behavior and then making an assumption on what attitudes must have caused it. I found this video to relate well to perception, but also to exemplify just how powerful our brains truly can be. An interesting concept, I thought. I hope you do too!

This video relates to time perception. Upon research, I found that how we perceive time changes depending on the situation that we are in. One example of this is when frantic music is played in the car, the driver tends to drive at an increased speed as a result, as time has somehow seemed to speed up.  I thought this was a great example of how our senses and perceptions play tricks on ourselves. Whether it be an evolutionary benefit, or merely just our senses acting up, the changing of time is a common occurrence that exemplifies the sometimes unreliability of what we are perceiving.

        After seeing the rubber hand video, I started thinking about phantom limb syndrome which can occur after a person has an amputation. I found a video about a man who is missing an arm, yet "experiences" a sensation of pain in the place where his hand would be. The video explains how the brain does not really know that the limb is no longer there and so sends signals directed toward his hand, trying to clench it. If this man did have a hand, his muscles would send feedback to the brain telling him to slow down the motion, however since he has no hand, the brain sends more signals resulting in a positive feedback loop. The solution is a mirror box. The man places the hand he does have in a box with a mirror, and his hand is reflected so it looks as if he has two. The ultimately tricks the brain with visual feedback and relieves the pain felt. This illusion shows us how easily the brain can be deceived, and emphasizes how our sensations can be psychological.

The Rubber Hand Illusion: Is Seeing Believing? This video demonstrates bottom up perception overriding top down knowledge. Initially, the participants had top down knowledge that the rubber hand was not their hand. Although the rubber hand looks similar to a real hand, it is clear the rubber hand is not a real hand. As the participants' real hand (that was hidden) and the rubber hand (not hidden) began being stimulated simultaneously, the participants' bottom up perception overrode their top down knowledge, and felt the rubber hand was their real hand. This was evident when the hammer hit the rubber hand and the participants reacted as if the hammer was hitting their real hand. This illusion demonstrates how our senses have the ability to deceive us, showing that seeing should not necessarily lead to believing.

This is a short video that can help you to explore how much you actually see with your peripheral vision. As you may recall from my in-class demonstration, you can see movement first with your peripheral vision and as objects move to your central line of vision, you can slowly see shape, color and then finally read words. This is because the structure of the eyes (with ratio of cones and rods) differs within the fovea and sides of eye. However, this relates to perception because we fill in missing things with our mind and we perceive color and shapes out of the corner of our eyes. We also use active perception by moving our eyes and exploring the area around us with our sight. I also brought candy to demonstrate that much of the information that we think we get from taste actually comes from smell. I think this is evidence that much of what we perceive is coming from different senses and being combined in a way to create what we experience.

I'm sure no one has thought about this for a while, and I'm sorry for bringing back painful memories of unending arguments over this dress. However, this dress is all about perception, and I felt it was appropriate to share. I see the dress as white and gold, so for those of you who see it as black and blue, I'd love to switch minds with you.

One single neuron (seen in blue above) was found wrapped around a mouse brain like a "crown of thorns."  Scientists believe this finding may shed light on how consciousness is developed and how so many different processes of the brain come together so quickly to give us conscious awareness.  The single neuron spans the occipital lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and frontal lobe.  This means that visual information, linguistic information, face and shape recognition, and somatosensory information, along with our decisions/judgments about all of this information, is all being integrated in the seat of the neuron at the claustrum.  This might shed light on how we, in a split second and without our even knowing it, are able to make prediction and corrections about our perceptions, as in the Predictive Coding Model.  It can also explain Locke's proposal that we make judgments about sense perceptions, such as a flat shape variously colored, without our even knowing it, t

Plato had a rationalist view, and referred to beauty as objective in that it was not localized in response of the beholder. But, should we think of beauty as having a more empiricist quality, being a relative assessment that lies in the eyes of the beholder, stemming from our sensory experiences? If this is our belief, then we could conclude that beauty can be created through a subjective judgment. Meaning that each individual decides what is beautiful to them, or not. But, watching the transformation of the model below, could lead us to believe that the overall thoughts of media in society would coincide with the objective perception of Plato. Consistently trying to persuade us to ascertain and become the pattern or form that transforms us into beautiful. And with beauty as an objective feature, we can assume that the majority of us will coincide in our perceived patterns and forms of said beauty. So…... Could Beauty be both objective and subjective? After all, indivi

The Case Against Reality  is an interview with neuroscientist, quantum physicist and professor at University of California, Irvine, Donald D. Hoffman regarding a study he published  here . His argument is essentially that human beings did not evolve to perceive the world accurately,  but rather, advantageously.  He claims that what is advantageous to perceive may look nothing like "reality," provided an external reality exists at all. He goes so far as to posit an idealist metaphysic grounded in his studies in quantum cognitive science, claiming that a very possible structure of the world could be a network of first-person perspectives creating a pseudo-collective reality which we all experience together. What type of epistemic state would the explanations posited by Hoffman leave us in? On one hand, "truth" goes out the window, but on the other, we have immediate access to all the "objects" of our perceptions and, to some extent, create those "object

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28683-how-trippy-version-of-mariah-carey-christmas-hit-fools-the-brain/

Visual Snow Syndrome. What is it? Well, no one is really 100% confident what causes this syndrome, but there are a host of common symptoms that most people with VSS share, many of which are shown in the above video. I've lived with this my entire life, so I actually don’t know how much of what I experience isn't considered neurotypical. I’m still finding out there are things I see that not everyone does, and it still surprises me every time. Some symptoms are as follows, ones I experience will be shown in bold :  Visual snow After-images Entopic phenomenon Glare Halos Starbursts Palinopsia Double vision “Odd colors and shapes” Tinnitus Depersonalization/Derealization Up until very recently in my life I thought that everything I was seeing was just normal. I've taken these perceptions for granted my whole life, not realizing that I was seeing the world differently than most. I also experience other things which may be related to my VSS but also may be related to ot

Cuttlefish are awesome! They can camouflage themselves to blend into their surroundings. Researchers have discovered a way to use the cuttlefish's amazing ability to test their perception! Do cuttlefish see the world the way we do?!

Dr. Romesh Angunawela created this GIF to illustrate how a baby's vision develops over the first year of her life. At birth, babies are unable to see color and make out shapes. Depth perception doesn't develop until about 4 months. Visual development "coincides with increased interest and exploration of the world around them." Check out the full article  here .