You perceive with your mind...Remember that it's all in your head!

Yes, yes, I know, ANOTHER Cracked.com article for you all to look over at your convenience. I was just working on some potential discussion posts for the online course I'm creating (of course also hoping it gets through the approval process, etc. etc. when I'm finished getting it together), and I had decided to share some links I found to the 1st season of Brain Games, when low and behold, this cracked.com article comes out! Talk about the universe telling me "hells to the yes, you need to share this information! People need to know it if they don't already!" Not only that, but there is an old song out there, Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz, that my youngest has been listening to that also had the universe telling me I needed to talk about Reality and Perception ;)

Anyway, the article is "5 Mind-Blowing Ways your Senses Lie to You Every Day" --The are:

#5. Your Eyes Can Make You Hear Different Words
#4. Your Brain Erases Objects from Your Sight...While Your Driving
#3. Your Eyes Change the Way Food Tastes
#2. Your Brain Changes the Size of Objects Around You
#1. You Can Easily Forget Where Your Limbs Are


and here's the link with more specifics.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20391_5-mind-blowing-ways-your-senses-lie-to-you-every-day.html

If you are interested in knowing more about the National Geographic series Brain Games, which is currently into season 2 (YAY!). Check out their website at   http://braingames.nationalgeographic.com/

These videos present many experiments and tests that you can do while watching the show, and explain a lot of cognitive science and neuroscience research currently being investigated. We are social thinkers, and we do process information through attention, interpretation, judgment, and memory. And this is what influences just about everything that makes who we are and how we interact with others. I find it extremely fascinating how much these processes are actually wrong, but at the same time they work 'good enough' that we survive to live another day!  

 

Test Your Brain-1st Episode-Pay Attention!

Episode 1: Pay Attention 
Designed to test your memory, the first episode presents viewers with a mock-up crime scene. In a New York park, a man is mugged in broad daylight. Test your Brain: You Won't Believe Your Eyes But can you describe the robbery seconds later? And will your description be the same as that of the person next to you? Discover how details often go missing, forcing the brain to 'make up' memories. So what you believe to be true could actually be 

 

Test Your Brain - 2nd Episode-Perception

Episode 2: Perception 
You may not realise it, but our brains are being fooled all of the time - especially by Hollywood filmmakers. Experimental neuroscientist Beau Lotto guides you through the mind-bending world of optical illusions, showing you how our brains 'fill in' crucial information, enabling people to 'feel' with their eyes and 'see' with their ears.

 

Test Your Brain-3rd Episode-Memory

Episode 3: Memory 
If you witnessed a crime, could you be sure you recognised the perpetrator? Our memories are surprisingly vulnerable, and our recollection of names, numbers and details can often be incorrect at the most crucial of moments. Former detective Greg Walsh reveals how what you believe to be true can often be alarmingly false.