Experimenting with Experimental Brain

Science Part II

Dr. Michael Raucci

Brain Rules – John Medina

Goals Today

1) Not to teach you anything

• The idea today is to allow guided exploration result in self realization and illumination leading to discussion.

2) We are going to act like really lousy scientists

For fun I want to, when ever possible, extrapolate what we discover, to what this might mean if it the process we were examining worked similarly for other parts of the brain.

Waterfall

by M.C. Escher

What is Reality and What is Perception?

Is there such a thing as reality?

• Why does this occur? Clearly, our ability to process faces is impeded by inverting them, but what exactly is impeded in the Thatcher illusion? There are three competing hypotheses3. The first, called the expression hypothesis, goes as follows4:

• (a) the grotesque appearance of a Thatcherized face is due to its expression, (b) inversion impairs the encoding of expression, and, therefore, (c) inversion disrupts the perception of grotesqueness of a Thatcherized face. (p. 284) In other words, we have a harder time encoding expressions when faces are inverted, so we don't notice the problem with the expressions until we turn the faces rightside up.

• It begins with the assumption that we process faces by looking at "local features" (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth) and their configuration (how they're organized relative to each other). When the faces are inverted, it is difficult to process the configural information; we just can't seem to process the relationships between the features. So we rely on the local features, which don't appear to be off in the thatcherized faces. However, when the faces are rightside up, both the configural information and the local features are screwy, causing them to look grotesque. Evidence for this hypothesis comes from experiments in which participants are easily able to perceive alterations to local features (e.g., blacking the teeth) when the faces are inverted, but, as the above photos demonstrate, are unable to perceive even large deviations from the normal configuration of those features6.

• Interestingly, studies using an electroencephalogram to measure the brain's response to the different photos indicate that our brains do recognize a large difference between the thatcherized and unthatcherized faces, even when they're inverted, despite the fact that participants are rarely consciously aware of the differences7. Since this difference in event-related potentials likely occurs early in the processing of the faces, it may be that higher-order visual processing of the local features overrides the differences that the visual system initially perceives, making it difficult for us to consciously perceive those differences. However, it's not quite clear how this works, and futher neuroscientific research on this aspect of our processing of thatcherized faces may provide interesting insights into face perception.

McGurk Effect

Perform with eyes open and eyes closed

http://www.media.uio.no/personer/arntm/McGurk_english.html

Experiment: How many people remember or have a photo of themselves or their kids

hugging Bugs Bunny at Disney World?

• A trademark impossibility• The key to implanting false memories is to

repeat the questions over relatively long periods of time (by which point the volunteers vaguely remember the information but no longer remember where they heard it.

Memory is not Specifically Reliable

• Memory is an embellished generalization of the amalgamation of past experiences, past thoughts, and their interpretations.– 1) people incorporate new information into old memories

• 2002 Washington DC sniper attacks – one person’s legitimate memory of seeing a white van became integrated into dozens of other tipsters memories leading to mass confusion.

– 2) people remember facts more readily than sources• You’re more likely to choose a brand that’s become familiar

through an advertising barrage and springs readily to mind.– 3) Memories are influenced by mood– Remember what memories actually are

Draw the head face of a penny• 2009• shield• liberty• D• Buffalo• in God we trust• one cent• picture of Lincoln• E pluribus unum• wheat• United States of

America• unum• Indian Chief• Lincoln memorial picture

MEMORY

• Remember the following sequence• 1 5 1 9 8 5 7 4 7 2 0 0 9 1 4

• 15 1985 747 2009 14

• Soccer jersey #, HS graduation, big plane, this year, daughter’s age

chunking

• Why phone numbers are easy to remember• Short term memory 5-7 storage units• Poor phone number etiquette messes up our

expected chunking

• 30 17496 41 9

• 301 749 6419

Subitization

Read along the bar

6,302,715,408

Tracking moving objects

• http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/finstlab/motMovies/mot.mov 4

• http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/finstlab/motMovies/mot-occ-occlusion.mov - out of sightout of mind

• http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/finstlab/motMovies/mot-occ-virtocc.mov - same

• http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/finstlab/motMovies/mot-occ-implosion.mov - fades to small like a enemy fading into distance

• http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/finstlab/demos.htm- same as prior but larger selection

http://www.acereader.com/• Priming and…..

• http://www.mindhacks.com/book/40/changeblindness.gif - flipping picture to see differernces

• http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/ASSChtml/couple.gif -there is a very obvius change raise your hand when you’ve seen it

• http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/ASSChtml/dottedline.gif same

http://www.acereader.com/• Priming and…..

• http://www.mindhacks.com/book/40/changeblindness.gif - flipping picture to see differernces

• http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/ASSChtml/couple.gif -there is a very obvius change raise your hand when you’ve seen it

• http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/ASSChtml/dottedline.gif same

Count the Passes

• http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/flashmovie/15.php -

movie #1 – count white passes

• movie #2 – count changes

Change Blindness

• http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/ASSChtml/ASSC.html

• Great site

White christmas

• www.mindhacks.com/book/48/whitechristmas.mp3

http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/amos/funpics/yellowdotdisappear42893.gif

• Disappearing yellow dots

Synesthetes

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Synesthetes

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Flashbulb memory

• Where were you when JFK was shot• Heard about the Challenger disaster• Collapse of the twin towers

• Memory is what is created when specific groups of neurons in your brain fire in specific patterns

• There is no solid distinction between the act of thinking and the act of remembering

multitasking

• To pay better attention stop multitasking• Your brain handles multitasking in much the

same way as an average single computer processor – it switches its attention back and forth

Better learning – p 120 manual

• Use multiple modalities• Attention needs engagement– 12 minute rule

– Make it yours– Teach it to someone else– Take frequent breaks– Follow up– have the right attitude– Be physically active

Pleasure is only an effective motivator when its in short supply

• Spread out the pleasure• Switch from one type of pleasure to another• Expect your pleasure to be short-lived

Fake Increasing heart rate will cause the viewer of bikini and lingerie clad

models to experience stronger emotions

bias• a young boy and his father were out playing

football when they were caught at the bottom of a giant pileup. Both were injured and rushed to the hospital. They were wheeled into spearate operating rooms and two doctoors prepped to work on them, one for each patient. The doctor operating on the father got started right away, but the the other doctor assigned to the young boy stared at him in surprise. “I can’t operate on him.” the doctor excalimed to the staff. “Tht boy is my son.” How is this possible?

Prejudice• If you are mugged at night on Broadway by a Chinese

woman you will instantly acquire an unrealistic association.• Afraid to walk at night alone• Tremble when setting foot on Broadway• Break into a cold sweat when seeing a Chinese woman• Highly associative emotional reactions of the amygdala –

senseless prejudice• Evolutions way of keeping you alive• Grow up in a home where stories of a patricular race being

evil, murderous, greedy, etc. Its not that you believe it on a cortical level, its that itt becomes part of your gut reaction (amygdala)

• Grouping in prejudice• I am going to give one of the blonde haired women in the room a black

card• The goal is to avoid getting the black card• Not all blondes will have the black card• Goal is to avoid getting the black card• Exchange cards as quickly as possible every 3 seconds.• The more exchanges you make the more money you will receive.• No talking• The black card will continue to circulate• Keep going even if you get it• Keep track of how many exchanges you make• Works well with an odd number of people• Everyone is prejudice of blondes and blondes are prejudice of blondes

Harvard Bias Interpreter

• https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/

Monty Hall Problem

• Monty Hall problem (use choc bar, rock and a paper clip) – get the music

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Player picks car(probability 1/3)

Host reveals either goat

Switching results in the other goat

Player picks goat A (probability 1/3)

Player picks goat B(probability 1/3)

Switching wins

Switching wins

Host reveals goat B

Host reveals goat A

"Monty is saying in effect: you can keep your one door or you can have the other two doors." The player therefore has the choice of either sticking with the original choice of door, or choosing the sum of the contents of the two

other doors, as the 2/3 chance of hiding the car hasn't been changed by the opening of one of these doors.

Selection bias

1) Eventually the unlikely must happen2) We aren’t including all the facts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

Brand Loyalty

The Pepsi Challenge

Baby myths – p 230-231

• Super enriched environments create smarter children

• Learning toys promote development• Childhood is a race to acquire facts• TV is a learning aid• Children are natural learners• Variety is good and easy• Relationships are most important

Success in College

• The best predictor of college success is the intensity and quality of one’s high school curriculum.

• (Adelman 1999), Rosenbaum 2004)

• Better predictor than grades, SAT scores, extra curricular activites, college essays, etc. by far.

• Average or better students regardless of their standing who come from academically prestigious high schools are the most successful in college.

• Who is responsible for academic prestige??

Things needed

• Soda and cups – 2 colors• Chocolate bar, rock and a paper clip