14
votes
Why does the brain skip over repeated "the" words in sentences?
A study by Rainer et al. (2011) has shown that words are skipped and apparently filled in mentally quite often (in the order of 8 to 30% of times).
Two important factors that increased skipping rates ...
- 20.5k
12
votes
How do we hear our inner voice?
No, inner speech does not follow the same neural pathway as speech coming in from outside.
Rather, inner speech uses the same neural mechanism as outer speech - that is, speech going out. The neural ...
- 19.3k
11
votes
Accepted
What happens in your brain when you see a dinosaur in this stenographic image?
The source I have quoted below gives an example of the following stenographic image:-
Is this perception a particular trick that my eye performs or is it processing the visual data in an alternative ...
- 1,192
7
votes
Why is the sound of running water soothing?
There cannot be a single answer to this question which would be entirely correct. Different theoretical approaches to psychology will yield different explanations. This is evident from the other ...
7
votes
If the color black reflects no light, how are we able to see it?
Objects are visually perceived when they reflect light. A black object does not reflect any light. In other words, no photons are reflected to be detected by the photoreceptors in the retina. A black ...
- 20.5k
7
votes
How does the inner ear encode sound intensity?
Short answer
Hair cells in the cochlea can code sound intensity via the amount of neurotransmitter they release. Higher sound levels result in more neurotransmitter release and in turn to higher ...
- 20.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Do cats exhibit the bouba/kiki effect?
The bouba/kiki effect is the phenomenon that about 95% of subjects assign the name bouba to a blobby form, and the name kiki to a pointy shape (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Kiki and bouba, at least in 95% of the ...
- 20.5k
7
votes
Accepted
What are the temporal limits of the auditory system?
As far as I know, auditory clicks are the shortest possible auditory stimuli. The shortest auditory click I was able to find in the literature, and which was used in a psychophysical context (i.e., ...
- 20.5k
7
votes
Name of cognitive bias that causes experts to overestimate their ability in other areas?
The Dunning-Kruger effect is specific to expertise in a particular domain. The domains tested in the original studies by Kruger & Dunning (1999) are: humor, logical reasoning, and English grammar.
...
- 3,503
7
votes
Accepted
How do hair cells recognize frequencies?
Short answer
Population activity in auditory neurons allows rate coding of soundwaves with frequencies that exceed the firing rate limit. Place coding is, however, believed to be the most important ...
- 20.5k
6
votes
What is the relationship between the ego, amygdala and consciousness?
Assuming your question is "Is person's ego a projection of the responses of their amygdala onto the conscious experience?", I think it would translate to "Does the amygdala determines or houses the ...
- 20.5k
6
votes
Can humans keep track of two unrelated rhythms?
I never thought that my Bachelor Thesis would ever come in handy. Thank you for this question!
Short answer
No, you cannot keep up two unrelated rhythms in a stable coordinated fashion when tapping ...
- 3,172
6
votes
Are the physical sensations of an emotion due to neural activity strictly in the brain or also in the body?
Psychophysiology is totally outside of my wheelhouse, but here it goes…
Those feelings in your chest, face, arms, etc. aren't an illusion. Indeed, it's long been argued that physiological arousal (...
- 4,378
6
votes
Is our attention attracted by bright lights?
In general, evidence suggests that we are attracted to contrast rather than brightness (luminance). For example, the onset of a bright light on a dark background is often used as an exogenous cue for ...
- 101
6
votes
Accepted
Where would a cognitively separated person get their brain signals excited from?
Seems that you are asking:
I am really interested just in the way the brain creates new
electrical potentials, "just on his own."
and
whether [sic] the brain would 'stop working', implying ...
- 1,537
6
votes
Why can't we understand text without subvocalizating it?
In japanese language, kanjis are more than phonemes but represent an idea. For instance, both tree and spirit have the same sound (ki) and can be written with the hiragana "letter" き. But when kanjis ...
6
votes
Why baby animals seem "cute" to us?
What you are referring to is broadly known as baby schema. However, does this not only apply to human babies, but actually to most mammals which need (parental)care. Certain features in the mammal ...
- 433
6
votes
How does the neocortex distinguish between perception and imagination?
Short answer
Perception and imagination in the visual system use pretty much the same neural machinery, but in opposite directions - perception goes bottom-up, from the periphery to the central ...
- 20.5k
6
votes
Accepted
How does speed listening work?
Your question made me think of JAWS, a screen reader for the blind. I have worked with visually impaired people for a while and I have always wondered how on earth they can understand the speech ...
- 20.5k
6
votes
What are the temporal limits of the auditory system?
In terms of the shortest stimuli, the auditory system can process acoustic impulses, but defining the duration of an impulse is problematic. As the duration of the impulse gets shorter, the bandwidth ...
- 2,648
5
votes
To what extent do individuals vary in their ability to mentally visualise?
The phenomenon of not being able to visualise has recently been dubbed "aphantasia" by Adam Zeman at Exeter: see the university's press release Can’t count sheep? You could have aphantasia. They had a ...
5
votes
In psychophysics, why are log luminance rather than absolute luminance values reported?
In general, subjective sensation increases linearly with the the log of physical intensity, which is described by Fechner's law.
We are sensitive to small variations when light is dim, but we need ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Is there a standard definition of a "hallucination"?
Elliot et al. (2008) define a hallucination as:
A sensory experience which occurs in the absence of corresponding external stimulation of the relevant sensory organ, has sufficient sense of reality ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
What brain areas are involved in memorizing sections of a song?
I would read this paper, its mighty interesting.
Books
Snyder, B.(2000) Music and memory: An introduction. The MIT Press. Cambridge 291.
Hemispheric Coordination and Conflict
"...while listening ...
- 1,192
5
votes
Accepted
Difference between thoughts and sensations
Short answer
Sensations are different from thoughts and are separated in the spatial and temporal domain. The distinction between thoughts and perceptions, however, is less well defined, but can still ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Accepted
How does the brain project pain on to a particular part of the body?
Short answer
Peripheral sensory information is projected unidirectionally to the brain. A sensory strip of the brain contains a topographical representation of the surface of the body that facilitates ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Accepted
What do you call sensations without stimuli?
Short answer
Visual hallucinations and, more specifically, phosphenes are the terms you are probably after.
Background
I'll basically provide a list of terminologies below, as your question seems to ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Accepted
How does a person who wears prism glasses through which the world is perceived upside-down experience the transition back to normal?
Short answer
Based on the papers I've found I conclude that visual perceptions are not grossly altered after wearing prism glasses for extended periods. Instead, adaptation to prism glasses is mainly ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Concept for 'too much exposure to a bad idea can make it seem normal'?
Are you thinking of desensitization?
From wikipedia: In psychology, desensitization is defined as the diminished emotional responsiveness to a negative or aversive stimulus after repeated exposure to ...
- 211
5
votes
Accepted
Why Is It That We Have Blindspots in Our Eyes?
The blind spots are scotomas (areas of degenerated acuity) found in all mammalian eyes, and are due to the way the optic nerve crosses the retina (back of the eye):
Because there are no cells to ...
- 19.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible