Post #3: The Highest Form of Flattery

 Something that I believe in and share with people is that we are all mosaic art, taking pieces from those we interact with. This concept is backed by what we learned in class. Even if it is subconscious, as people, we will start to subtly imitate those with whom we are interacting. This can be small things, such as mannerisms or even changes in overall behavior. This is an involuntary behavior, such as breathing. 

This part of the lesson reminded me of a study that I watched. People were told to sit in a waiting room. There were people already there, and when a clicker went off, actors stood up. They were told to stand up, but the test subjects simply followed the people, no questions asked. The study had more to do with social conformity, but it reminded me of our natural response to imitate. 

I will share the link below to the video. It's a very interesting concept, and it's fascinating to see how people will simply do something without questioning it because the majority is doing it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kWygqR0L8&t=51s

Post #2: Uncanny Valley

 Uncanny Valley is the concept associated with the unsettling feeling when presented with a face or image of something that is similar to a human but not quite. For example, when watching a movie with a humanoid robot. I have learned about theories in which people believe that this concept was an evolution from depicting Neanderthals and homo sapiens. 

A known example of the uncanny valley is the famous Christmas movie, The Polar Express. Watching the movie during winter break has been a tradition in my family for many years. However, despite watching it for so many years, the "eerie feeling" doesn't go away when seeing the characters' faces. The movie was one of the first to rely heavily on motion capture. This caused the characters to seem unnatural.

The link shared below shares more information on the creative design choices made in the movie. This can be beneficial in understanding the thought process in creating such a movie, where negative comments about the uncanny valley were shared. This movie may have allowed people to start questioning these unsettling feelings when watching the movie, especially since it was in the early 2000s.

https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/design-lessons-from-movies-the-polar-express

Post #1: Synesthesia

 The first time I learned about synesthesia was in an online debate about colors that are associated with school subjects. People had different ideas; some said math was red and others chose blue. The one thing everyone was certain about was that science was green. This piqued my interest, as I always considered science to be blue, as when I picture science, I think of vials of blue liquid from chemistry class. Synesthesia is when our brain links sensory information together in a manner to make sense of it. 

That is the first time I started to take an interest in how our brains associate sensory information. However, I had been doing it for a long time; it was just a normal response. 

A common example of this is Thursday, November, purple, and 7x7=49 are all the same. It's an unwritten association that even is right and odd is left. Examples such as these have been something we never had to discuss because it was a collective agreement. 

Later on, I discovered that not everyone thinks like this and that only 4% of the world's population has synesthesia. This caught my attention, as I would have expected more people to have had these experiences. Still, 4% of the world's population is 320 million people. 

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

 Alice in Wonderland syndrome is a condition in which you perceive objects or body parts as being much smaller or larger than they really are. This condition can cause seizures, intoxications, migraines/headaches and infections. The name comes from the movie Alice in Wonderland where the main character eats a small cake to either grow larger or become much smaller. These perceptions mostly occur at night. Along with visual hallucinations they may also suffer from auditory and tactile hallucinations. Brain tumors are the primary cause of this condition and the condition is relatively untreatable.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome: A rare neurological manifestation with microscopy in a 6-year-old child (nih.gov)

Prosopagnosia

 Prosopagnosia is a condition where you cannot recognize faces. Someone who suffers from this cannot identify a person based solely on their face. They do not recognize family or friends, so usually someone with this condition has anxiety with social interactions. Some cannot even recognize themselves. This is not due to an issue with the memory part of the brain. Rather abnormalities of one of the folds in the brain. This condition could result from stroke, traumatic brain injury, or you could be born with it. People who have this disorder use other things to identify people such as clothing, voice or other physical attributes. Many people who have autism also have this disorder which could account for the typical social aversion.

Prosopagnosia Information Page | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (nih.gov)

3-D Images

3-D images are first explained by the idea of the stereoscope. A stereoscope is a device invented by Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) which produces the illusion of depth just by using two slightly different pictures. This device became popular for people to use. The photographs are taken with two lenses that are seperated as the same distance as the eyes. The photograph on the left is shown to the left eye while the photograph on the right is shown to the right eye. Therefore, the images are shown in the same manner that the individual would view the image.

This idea is also used in 3-D films. The idea behind it, is that the left eye and the right eye images are presented at the same time on the screen to the viewers, but are slightly displaced from one another to create a sense of disparity. The images are shown seperately by coding the images for the left eye red and the right eye green or vice versa. The viewer then wears a set of glasses that act as filters with one lense colored red and the other colored green. Currently, 3-D films have been the new trend. They always seem to bring fun and entertainment for all people who view them.

Gestalt Principles of Perception

I personally am a huge "Always Sunny in Philadelphia" fan, I saw this episode that you can view below this statement, and it made me think about the Gestalt Principle and then I looked further into the topic and below you can view a video from youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxKcpfFvuf8. This video is from a gentalman from a web site called the psych files and explains in a breif form about the Gestalt principles. The Gestalt principle is was first established in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt which was an attempt to explain perception. His approach was called structuralism and that is one of the ideas that perceptions are created by combining elements called sensations. Gestalt psychologists are famous for the quote, " the whole differs from the sum of its parts." ( quoted in Goldstein p.104) In this episode of "Always Sunny" the crew finds a water spot that resembals the Virgin Mary and how the minds of the people percevied it as a sign. In this video that you are viewing now shows a great view of how our minds tend to work with what is seen. One person saw a face in Mars and now Scientists believe it is a sign. ENJOY!
p.s. The california dormatories were very surprising!
The Always Sunny Episode: http://sunny.theofficefree.com/s2/e7.html ( the topic of the Gestalt Principle is only contained in the first 3 min!