The (Really Scary) Invisible Gorilla

Change blindness (Wikipedia) is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus goes unnoticed by the observer.

Change blindness studies show that if we are paying very close attention to one thing, we often fail to notice other things in our field of vision—even very obvious things.

As an example, scientists recruited 24 experienced and credentialed radiologists-and a comparable group of naïve volunteers. They tracked their eye movements as they examined five patients’ CT scans, each made up of hundreds of images of lung tissue. Each case had about 10 nodules (minuscule signs of lung cancer) hiding somewhere in the scans, and the radiologists were instructed to click on these nodules with a mouse. On the final case, the scientists inserted a tiny image of a gorilla into the lung. They wanted to see if the radiologists, focused on the telltale nodules, would be blind to the easily detectable and highly irregular gorilla… The gorilla was minuscule, but huge compared to the nodules. It was about the size of a box of matches-or 48 times the size of a typical nodule.

After they were done scrolling through the images as much as they wanted, the scientists asked them: Did that last trial seem any different? Did you notice anything unusual on the final trial? And finally: Did you see a gorilla on the final trial? 20 of the 24 radiologists failed to see the gorilla, despite scrolling past it more than four times on average. And this was not because it was difficult to see: When shown the image again after the experiment, all of them saw the gorilla. What’s more, the eye-tracking data showed clearly that most of those who did not see the gorilla did in fact look right at it. CRAZY !!! Learn more here.

Amazing Animated Optical Illusions

I really like optical illusions.

These ones are pretty wild.

Below are links to the images found in this video so you can print them out and try it yourself. You’ll have to print the template onto a transparency. If you have an ink jet printer you have to use a special transparency made specifically for ink jet printers. When you print the images and the template make sure to print them all at the same size if any of the sizes change the effect will not work.

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Happy Valentine’s Day

We call it love. But the most exhilarating of all human emotions is probably nature’s beautiful way of keeping the human species alive and reproducing. That’s right, it can all be explained by science!

Psychologists have shown it takes between 90 seconds and 4 minutes to decide if you like someone. And research has shown this has little to do with what is said, rather:

• 55% is through body language
• 38% is the tone and speed of their voice
• Only 7% is through what they say

Next comes love and the 3 stages of love are lust, attraction and attachment.

Stage 1: Lust

This is the first stage of love and is driven by the sex hormonestestosterone and oestrogen – in both men and women.

Stage 2: Attraction

This is the amazing time when you are truly love-struck and can think of little else. Scientists think that three main neurotransmitters are involved in this stage; adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin. For example, adrenaline has the charming effect that when you unexpectedly bump into your new love, you start to sweat, your heart races and your mouth goes dry.

Stage 3: Attachment

Attachment is the bond that keeps couples together long enough for them to have and raise children. Scientists think there might be two major hormones involved in this feeling of attachment; oxytocin and vasopressin.

So there you go, it’s all about hormones and neurotransmitters.

But finally, if you are wondering how to fall in love, it’s simple just:

• Find a complete stranger.
• Reveal to each other intimate details about your lives for half an hour.
• Then, stare deeply into each other’s eyes without talking for four minutes.

A psychologist asked some subjects to carry out the above 3 steps and found that many of his couples felt deeply attracted after the 34 minute experiment. Two of his subjects later got married! Read lots more here or here and watch a video here.

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Scientific Power of Thought

The power of the mind and it’s ability to affect physical change may shock you! Find out how simply imagining can make it so.

First-Ever Incredible Footage Of A Thought Being Formed

A team of Japanese researchers has achieved something incredible: it has captured, for the first time ever, a movie that shows how thoughts form in the brain.

OK, so it’s a thought forming in the brain of a zebrafish. And its the fish’s reaction to seeing food, so it’s probably along the lines of “HUNGRY!”. But we shouldn’t play this down: this is a fundamental leap forward in our understanding of how brains work.

The researchers used a new technique to record the footage: a super-sensitive fluorescent probe that detects neuron (brain cell) activity. That lets us see neurons glowing when they are active — and the cascade of light you see in this video is the neuronal response of a zebrafish responding to the presence of its prey. In other words, you’re seeing what the fish thinks when it sees its lunch.

Clearly zebrafish aren’t the brainiest creatures in the world, but that’s why the researchers from Japan’s National Institute of Genetics are now working out how to use the technique in other creatures — and get a better insight into how our brains really work. Learn more here.

How Childhood Neglect Stunts the Brain

Science is painting a dramatic picture of how childhood neglect damages developing brains, so stunting them that neglect might be likened to physically violent abuse.

The latest addition to this research narrative comes from a study of mice placed in isolation early in their lives. The researchers found striking abnormalities in tissues that transmit electrical messages across the brain.

The isolated mice were antisocial, with striking deficits in memory. Their myelin, a cell layer that forms around neuronal networks like insulation around wires, was unusually thin, especially in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region central to cognition and personality. Learn more here.

Amazing 3D illusions on paper

This is fun:

Why People Brag

People brag for all sorts of reasons: to appear worthy of attention or love or to try and cover up our deepest insecurities. To prove to ourselves that we’re OK, that people from our past who said we wouldn’t measure up were wrong. Or simply because we’re excited when good things happen to us.

And talking about ourselves feels good. According to the results of a series of experiments, the reward areas of our brain—the same areas that respond to “primary rewards” such as food and sex—are activated when we talk about ourselves. We devote between 30% and 40% of our conversation time to doing just that, according to a study, which didn’t focus on boasting specifically, but on self-disclosure.

In one experiment, the researchers offered people small amounts of money to answer questions about themselves or others. They generally were willing to forgo earnings in order to talk about themselves. Learn more here.

Signing Forms at the Top Makes People More Honest

Simply by signing documents at the start rather than end, people might be encouraged to behave more honestly.

The effect was demonstrated in a series of staged and real-world experiments, which included moving signature lines from bottom to top on car insurance reports.

On car insurance forms, customers were asked to report the number of miles on their cars’ odometers. For those customers signing at the top, the average reported mileage was over 2,400 miles higher than for bottom-signers.

While actual mileage couldn’t be verified, variance of that magnitude in such a large, randomly divided group suggests a difference in reporting ethics, not driving habits, especially given the incentive — lower insurance premiums — of under-reporting mileage. Learn more here.

The Science of Productivity

In today’s crazy world, productivity is on the minds of many. So what can science tell us about the human brain and productive work? How do we become more efficient at working, and spend less time working overall?

Learn more here.