Perception

== = = =Is your red the same as my red?= media type="custom" key="24753006" =Umwelt and Extending the Phenotype= [] As we go through each set of slides, see how well you recognize the images. Share your knowledge, and make inferences and connections.

media type="custom" key="24752994" This video contains numerous examples of animals' ability to perceive things that ordinary humans cannot.

=The Most Astounding Fact= (to put things into perspective) By Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson media type="custom" key="24725824"

=Powers of Ten= [] Again, as you view the film, think about what you already know, making inferences and connections. How do you feel as you view the film?

Observable Universe
http://scaleofuniverse.com/ Under the tab "Observable Universe" to get an idea of our "galactic neighborhood" (including the neighboring solar systems/stars, the neighboring galaxies, the local galactic group and galactic supercluster to which we belong. Do these names sound familiar?
 * Epsilon Eridani**
 * Alpha Centauri**
 * Tau Ceti**
 * Vega**
 * Andromeda Galaxy**

=Universcale= [] If there's time, we'll view this film, to see how well you have grasped the concept of objects that have been invisible up until recently.



=Optical Illusions= Try this out to start www.neave.com/strobe/

=Optical Illusion Workshop= http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/ - the stepping feet illusion is really cool

Who are Singer and Nicholson? http://cnx.org/content/m15255/latest/ - great explanation of the Fluid mosaic model created by them....!

=Optical Illusions= =media type="youtube" key="zPX6LepP1y4" width="420" height="315"= How the brain works - Jerry Andrus

media type="youtube" key="Ttd0YjXF0no" width="420" height="315" Ramachandran - Ames Room explained = There is no truth. There is only perception. = - Gustave Flaubert, 19th century French novelist

= To hate, to love, to think, to feel, to see; all this is nothing but to perceive. = - David Hume, British philosopher

=How Sound Changes Sight= media type="custom" key="23626962" =How do I know your red isn't my green?= media type="custom" key="23439344"



Hearing vs. Listening - interesting article about the difference between hearing and listening
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/why-listening-is-so-much-more-than-hearing.html?src=me&ref=general

Conclusion http://www.homodiscens.com/home/ways/perspicax/index.htm

//SEVEN SENSES//

The Latin name //Homo perspicax// refers to sense perception.

The evolution of mind and the senses has been driven by the immediate needs of embodied creatures inseparable from their immediate environments. Perception is of the moment and occurs at lightning speed. The science of the senses provides tantalizing glimpses into the nature of knowing and learning.

Our senses are sometimes fallible and respond only to stimuli falling within a predetermined range, but they are our sole portal to experience

Our senses are not passive receptors. Perception is active, exploratory, creative and highly selective. The innate perceptual toolkit of each individual is fine-tuned during infancy based on interactions with the environment. This is an active, constructive process that requires time and benefits from trial and error. The burgeoning senses manifest themselves virtually at the level of cognition. Their physical basis lies in the brain’s developing micro-anatomy.

Dwelling in the cavern of our own subjectivity we are always at once remove from things in themselves. What we perceive is not the world as it is, but a constantly updated, virtual impression. Incoming sense data corresponds to, or coheres with, this fictive version, or else—in the moment and on the hoof—contributes to shifting it.


 * Andrew Brown (2005)** //Figures (detail)// Acrylic and charcoal on canvas.

We are predisposed to bring cognitive order out of real world disorder. From crude and coarse-grained sense data, perception involves active scanning for points of interest. This search for contrast, edge, pattern, coherence and relevance is unrelenting. This holds for touch and hearing just as it does for vision.

Our perceptions are informed and constrained by our singular experience. By the time we are able to notice this and reflect upon it, we our senses are already preconfigured. We are //in medias res.// For this reason alone there are no naked perceptions.

**Andrew Brown (1999)** //Figure (detail)// Oil pastel, ink and charcoal on paper.


 * Is vision really our primary sense? Do the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear, which maintains balance, and proprio-reception in the muscles qualify as fully-fledged additions to the traditional five senses?**


 * What are the implications of the discovery that color is in the eye of the beholder rather than a fixed property of reflected surfaces?**


 * Is the feeling that we experience a visual representation of a whole scene a subjective illusion? What it actually being represented at any given moment and why?**


 * Perception relies on a background of theory informed by our formative experience. Does perception suffice as a general model for the acquisition of all manner of synthetic knowledge? Is the Scientific Method, also characterized by a background of theory, sense perception made explicit?**


 * If we can be fooled by optical illusions is it reasonable be skeptical about all sense data? Do people who think differently also see differently? Why are opinion and belief often used synonymously with perception?**