Have you ever encountered an image or a sentence that seemed completely random and confusing at first, but later made perfect sense? This fascinating phenomenon is tied to how our consciousness works, and by the end of this article, you’ll understand why. Let’s dive into the intriguing world of consciousness and perception.
The scientific exploration of consciousness began in the late 1800s, focusing on animal brains and patients with epilepsy. Researchers discovered that electrical signals in the brain are responsible for processing information, leading to our conscious awareness. Despite these advances, the exact nature of consciousness remains a mystery.
Our brain, a jelly-like organ encased in our skull, operates in complete silence and darkness. Yet, it enables us to perceive the world around us. Our senses act as windows, allowing us to experience the reality outside our bodies through sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
Contrary to popular belief, we have more than five senses. Proprioception helps us sense our body’s position, while thermoception allows us to detect temperature changes. These senses, along with others, send information to the brain, where complex electrical signals create our perceptions and consciousness.
Imagine looking at a coffee cup. Your eyes gather visual information, sending it to the brain, which processes it to recognize the cup. However, recent theories suggest that our brain constantly makes predictions based on prior knowledge and context, with our senses merely confirming these predictions. This concept is known as perception error minimization.
Our brain is so adept at making predictions that it sometimes overrides reality. A classic example is Adelson’s checkerboard illusion, where our perception of color is influenced by shadows, leading us to see different colors even when they are the same. This demonstrates how our brain’s predictions can be cognitively impenetrable.
Consider the image from the beginning of this discussion. Initially, it seemed meaningless because you lacked context. However, it’s actually a two-tone image of a woman kissing a horse. Once you know this, your brain’s predictions change, allowing you to see the image clearly.
Similarly, a sentence with high frequencies removed may sound robotic and unintelligible. But once you hear the original sentence, “The man’s painting a sign,” your brain adjusts its predictions, and you can understand it.
Contemporary science suggests that our consciousness is heavily influenced by our brain’s predictions, shaped by our life experiences. For instance, people working in call centers might interpret a garbled sentence as “Who is calling you?” because it’s a phrase they frequently encounter.
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Engage in a creative exercise by drawing or painting an abstract image that initially appears random. Share your artwork with classmates and discuss how different contexts or explanations can change their perception of the image. This activity will help you understand how context influences perception and consciousness.
Conduct a simple experiment by showing a series of optical illusions, such as the Adelson’s checkerboard illusion, to your peers. Discuss how their initial perceptions change after learning the underlying principles. This will illustrate the brain’s role as a prediction machine and how it can override reality.
Participate in a workshop that explores senses beyond the traditional five, such as proprioception and thermoception. Engage in activities that heighten these senses, and reflect on how they contribute to your overall perception and consciousness.
Play a language game where sentences are presented with missing or altered words. Use context clues to predict the original sentences. This activity will demonstrate how your brain uses context to fill in gaps and enhance understanding, similar to how it processes sensory information.
Join a group discussion where you share personal experiences that have shaped your perception and consciousness. Reflect on how your background influences the way you interpret ambiguous images or sentences, highlighting the role of personal context in shaping consciousness.
This episode is sponsored by Babel. Only some people can see this image or understand this sentence. For most people, both seem random and confusing, but by the end of this video, you will be able to see this image and understand that sentence based on new theories of how consciousness works. Also, write in the comments below what you think this sentence is saying, as by the end of the video, what you wrote will give you an interesting clue into who you are as a person.
It was only in the late 1800s that the scientific study of consciousness began by studying animal brains and patients with epilepsy. Humans started to understand that electrical signals in the brain send and process information, and these neural pathways are likely leading to our sentient consciousness. But even now, scientists are still trying to grapple with how our consciousness is formed.
Like our brain, this jelly-like organ sealed in our skull, away from everything in complete silence and darkness, is what creates our ability to hear and see things. We know that outside of you, there is a reality that exists—a world full of real materials and objects. Our complex bodies use our senses as windows, so to speak, to observe, touch, smell, hear, and detect the real world around us.
And don’t ever let someone tell you that you only have five senses! You have proprioception, which is the sense of your body’s position, like standing up or falling over. You have thermoception, the sense of temperature and heat that your body is able to pick up. So, using our senses, we convey information about the world around us to the brain, where complex electrical signals process and read the information, creating our perceptions leading to consciousness.
Visually, it would look like this: you, a person looking at a coffee cup, your sense of vision gathering the information to send to the brain, where it does all the work to understand, “Oh, yay, that is a coffee cup.” But if this were fully true, you’d be able to see this image and hear this sentence. This is where a new theory of consciousness comes in to try and explain what’s going on.
There is contemporary thought saying that the brain is actually constantly making predictions based on knowledge and context of the world around you, and your senses are only there to tie these predictions to reality, known as perception error minimization. Your senses are just confirming what your brain has already predicted. Visually, it would look something like this: your brain is predicting to see a coffee cup, and your senses are just backing up what your brain already predicted.
This helps you control your perception of the world. Our brain is a prediction-making machine, so much so that there are even times when the predictions get in the way of reality. This illusion is a great example called Adelson’s checkerboard. Your perception of colors is not due to actual sensory input, or you would be able to tell that these tiles are actually the same color. Since your brain is relying on past knowledge and context of how shadows work, you see these tiles as separate colors. Even when you know they are the same color, if you go back with the shadows, you still can’t really unsee it. Your brain is a prediction-making machine that can’t fix itself in this moment, which means that this illusion is cognitively impenetrable.
Now let’s look at the image from the beginning of the video. You didn’t have any knowledge or context of this image, which is why you couldn’t see it. But it is actually a two-tone image of a woman kissing a horse. Gorgeous photo, in my opinion! Now, when we go back to this image, you can likely make out what it is now. The sensory input of this image has not changed at all; the only thing that has changed is your brain’s predictions based on knowledge and context, which now changes what you consciously see. You can see the girl; you can see the horse.
Now, the sentence that I played for you is just a sentence with the high frequencies taken out. Without any context, it has a very robotic energy, and you can’t really understand what is being said. Now let’s play the real sentence for you: “The man’s painting a sign.” And when we play the original audio, you can now hear it.
There’s a lot of contemporary science now suggesting that our consciousness is much more controlled by our brain’s predictions based on the context of our lives. So when you go and look at the comments of what you thought that sentence was or what other people thought it might be, it could give insight into the context of your life. For example, many people in call centers thought that the sentence was saying, “Who is calling you?” Maybe that’s something they were just used to hearing a lot or are constantly thinking about.
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Consciousness – The state of being aware of and able to think about one’s own existence, sensations, and thoughts. – In psychology, understanding consciousness involves exploring how individuals perceive their own thoughts and emotions.
Perception – The process by which individuals organize and interpret sensory information to give meaning to their environment. – Perception in psychology can be influenced by cultural factors, as seen in how Spanish speakers interpret certain visual cues differently.
Brain – The organ in the human body responsible for thought, memory, emotion, and sensory processing. – Neuroscientists study how different areas of the brain are activated when a person is learning a new language, such as Spanish.
Language – A system of communication used by a particular community or country. – The study of language acquisition in psychology often examines how bilingual individuals, such as those fluent in Spanish and English, process information.
Context – The circumstances or setting surrounding an event, statement, or idea that help to clarify its meaning. – In psychological research, context is crucial for understanding how language influences perception and behavior.
Predictions – Expectations about future events based on current knowledge or patterns. – Psychologists make predictions about how exposure to multiple languages, like Spanish and English, can affect cognitive development.
Senses – The physiological capacities of organisms that provide data for perception, such as sight, hearing, and touch. – The integration of senses is a key area of study in psychology, particularly in understanding how Spanish speakers might experience music differently.
Experience – The knowledge or skill acquired by a person through involvement in or exposure to events. – In psychology, personal experience plays a significant role in shaping how individuals perceive and interact with their environment.
Spanish – A Romance language originating from the Iberian Peninsula and spoken by millions worldwide. – Learning Spanish can enhance cognitive flexibility, a topic of interest in psychological studies on language acquisition.
Learning – The process of acquiring knowledge or skills through study, experience, or teaching. – In educational psychology, learning theories explore how students best acquire new languages, including Spanish, in a university setting.
