PerceptionDoes it really tell us what is out there?

Fire Hand perception of pain

Sky Eye perception of blue

Coke Tongue sensation of sweetness

“Two thirds of what we see is behind our eyes”

Chinese proverb

Our eyes have evolved to process a small portion of electromagnetic radiation, which runs from sound waves to UV, and up to Gamma Rays. Our eyes only detect a sliver of the entire range of electromagnetic radiation. We call that sliver the visible spectrum. So we can see wavelengths between about 400 and 700 nanometers (all the colours of a rainbow), but we can't see Infrared or Ultraviolet.

It has recently been shown that the Kestrel is able to see in the near ultraviolet. This allows them to detect the urine trails around rodent burrows, which reflect ultraviolet light

Bottlenose dolphins respond to tones within the frequency range of 1 to 150 kHz. (The average hearing range for humans is about .02 to 17 kHz).

Echolocation is a type of sonar that bats use to detect prey, locate roosting crevices and avoid close obstacles in the dark. These bats emit a very loud and short 'shout' of sound and listen for the echo that bounces back when it hits an object

Mosquitos are especially sensitive to carbon dioxide, using it to track food sources and assess their surrounding environment,"

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world” Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860

Try to imagine a new colour.

“The Critic Sees” Jasper Johns 1961 Bronze

• Make a quick sketch of an face in less than a minute

• Now label the parts of the face on your drawing.

• Now look at a friends face closely (or the next slide) identify those parts that ….

a) … you left out

b) … are there but do not have a name

• How many parts of your original drawing did not have a name? How accurate was the shape?

Describe a coffee pot

http://www.prosopagnosia.com/

• A field is square and there are pine trees of exactly the same height growing around the edge of that field.

• Which of the following “drawings” is the most accurate?

SensationInterpretation

Group

Pattern

Context

Expectations

Figure and ground

If the brain is used to things appearing smaller the further away they are, how come the sphere in the distance (right) looks bigger than the other when in fact it is the same size?

Close your left and eye and just focus your right eye on the tiny cross. At some point the big circle will disappear as it crosses your 'blind spot'. If you can't see this effect, then try sitting closer/further from the screen.

Artists webpage

ABIRD

IN THETHE HAND

Who is Jean de Dinterville? Well, he was a French nobleman who came to England as an ambassador in the 1530s. He was one of the two people shown in a famous painting by Holbein - he is the figure on the left.

Click on image above, then scroll down until you see this image. Follow the short instructions above it.

Look at the four points for thirty seconds then close your eyes and shake your head gently

Freemish crate

The ‘Freemish’ crate

• Cochran’s photo of his ‘Freemish’ crate (1966).

Viewing from a single perspective

• Viewing the image from a misleading perspective• Viewing from another angle wrecks the effect• Monocular

viewing required

The Ames Room

How was it done?• Adelbert Ames, Jr. (1946) – concept by Helmoltz• Special viewpoint – monocular• Floor, ceiling, some walls, & windows are trapezoidal• Inclined floor• Appears as a normal

cubic room

So how does it work?• Peephole removes stereopsis• Forms an identical image of a cubic room on your retina• Both corners of the room subtend the same

visual angle to your eye – appear equidistant

• Seckel & Klarke:Past experiencesnot relevant

Click on image above, then run movie clip

Basketball video

How do we separate appearance from reality?

Coherence

…. this is an illusion.

…can Art make you see the world differently?

Does perception play any role in mathematics?

• We perceive our environment via our senses of smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight. The intensity of the sensual stimulus is a key factor. Marketers aim their marketing efforts directly at the senses to differentiate their products from competitors - a soft bunny illustrates the effectiveness of fabric softener, refuse bags are scented, bread or cookies are baked on the premises.

A recent buzzword is ‘neuromarketing’. Neuroscientists and psychologists are searching for the buy button in the brain. This involves putting subjects into brain scanning machinery and pitching concepts and images at them to see which ones make the lights flash.

In one experiment, subjects were made to blind-taste pepsi and coke. Pepsi  scored higher in terms of response in the ventral putamen, the part of the brain associated with feelings of reward - that is, most people thought pepsi tasted better. But when subjects were informed which drink was coke before they tried it, their medial prefrontal cortexes lit up. This is an area of the brain thought to control cognition. Most now say they prefer coke. So just the brand had prompted memories and brand nostalgia that influenced the taste of the stuff".

"Ad enough yet?" Nik Coole Post Magazine SCMP 28.01.07

• There’s a fascinating account of the testing of types of brandy which deduced that the stated taste preference of customers had nothing to do with the brandy at all. Subconsciously, and unbeknown to them, it was the shape of the bottle and the label that made the brandy taste better. “Blink” Malcolm Gladwell

Missouri mussels

The mussel uses a lure to attract a host fish (smallmouth bass) to carry its parasitic larvae.   The lure is a remarkable mimic of a small fish in color and movement.  When the bass strikes at the lure, the female mussel releases hundreds of tiny larvae that attach to the gills of the bass. 

MHC stands for major histocompatibility complex

• Disappearing woman

• Michel Levy film