Comments on: Berlin cognitive science safari: report

By: Matt Craddock

Matt Craddock — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:48:24 +0000

In the video above, the guy was German. Out of the 5 times we tried it, IIRC, all but one was German (I think). The last one, I’m not sure – I think she had a Spanish accent. It failed twice, but both times because of something going wrong in the execution: once when the woman had seen the guys with the door around the corner, so was immediately suspicious when she saw them coming (after her, I only asked people coming from the other direction); and once when the guy stopped them from carrying the door between us. The other three times, they carried on giving directions as if nothing had happened. In particular, the guy in the video was completely shocked, to the extent he almost didn’t believe it until I came back. The first person we asked didn’t notice – although the girl he was with did but didn’t say anything. The last one – the non-German – said she noticed something odd but wasn’t sure – specifically, she noticed a height difference (“I thought something was different because when he was asking for directions I was looking up at him and when I was giving directions I was looking down at him!”)

I was just amazed it worked at all

By: JP

JP — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 00:05:19 +0000

I dare say owning a pet bird instead of a dog challenges your brain’s perception. Everything a dog does is pretty staightforward… Often closely related to human reactions and mind states. Not so with a parrot, or my pet budgies. I still can’t figure out what they are blabbing about. Sounds like aimless random sounds. But nothing nature does is in vain right? So is my budgie just wasting his breath? My mind still tries to sort out the different ‘sound’ units that constitute their vocabulary. Most people say it gets on their nerves but I think classical music, as opposed to pop does that sometimes to most people for the _same reasons_. The complex juxtaposition of sounds is at times a challenge to sort out and make sense of, especially when one is focusing on other things.

By: Mathematics Rising » Seeing, dreaming and mathematics

Mathematics Rising » Seeing, dreaming and mathematics — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:59:55 +0000

[...] was struck by the clarity of statements made about perception in a recent Mind Hacks blog. When Tom Stafford reports on a talk he just gave in Berlin he says this: Perception is the [...]

By: Kognitive Stadt-Safari

Kognitive Stadt-Safari — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:20:11 +0000

[...] Das Video ist vom letzten Donnerstag. Es zeigt eine Intervention des Sozialpsychologen Tom Stafford, illustriert so etwas wie eine scheinbar zweckgebundene Blindheit. Mehr dazu hier. [...]

By: yaxu

yaxu — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:05:05 +0000

Hi Federico,

Lawrence Barsalou would be an excellent start:
http://psychology.emory.edu/cognition/barsalou/index.html

For example his review of grounded cognition literature would be a nice introduction to the field:
http://psychology.emory.edu/cognition/barsalou/papers/Barsalou_topiCS_2010_grounded_cognition.pdf

Of course there are plenty who would argue against such positions.

alex

By: Future Rhetorics

Future Rhetorics — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:19:18 +0000

Ben, If you’re looking for more on how perception is the production of meaning, I would start with Merleau-Ponty’s “Phenomenology of Perception.” Hope it helps!

Best,
FR

By: Ben cooper

Ben cooper — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:04:37 +0000

“Perception is the production of meaning”

I completely agree but where can I read/cite this argument/research?

By: Federico

Federico — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:27:47 +0000

Was the directions-giver a german? They can be so shy and over-polite that he might have noticed the swapping and not said anything. Just because.

Anyway, the article is extremely interesting, it’s a pity that I missed this.

By: rmgw

rmgw — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 07:28:00 +0000

“I(n) know that personally I feel my IQ drop at least 15 points as soon as the plane touches down in a foreign country.”…..
now we need to know if it goes back up when you go home, or if this is an ongoing process