Slashdot Mirror
The Neuroscience of Illusions and Dictionaries
Scientific American is running a pair of stories about what words and illusions can tell us about the brain. Mark Changizi of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is interviewed about his research into the relationship between the mechanisms of the brain and the evolution of language. The second article contains a slide-show of various illusions and why the brain interprets them as it does.
Link to the one-page/print version of the dictionary article and the meat of the illusion article
Also, a summary of the illusion article: The brain uses context, rather than absolute sampling.
The change in (fluid) pressure in your eyes (because of muscles contracting/expanding), aswell as slight variation of the position between both your eyes (since we arent perfectly semetrical) from vibration, etc.
The LEDs aren't actually illuminated all the time. They are actually flashing very fast - faster than your brain can discern. When you eat crunchy foods, it vibrates your head (and therefore, your retinas) at a frequency sufficient to allow some of the LED flashes to appear above or below the other flashes.
...And another reason might be if you wear glasses, the chewing action will alter where your glasses actually focus on.
Is anyone else having trouble reading the second article? The image on the left keeps distracting me, with its pretend turning of ultimate attention attainment.