The Jedi of the Fight Game

Dear Jan,

I head you are a big fan of the fight game. I really wanna know why some fighters are so amazing at dodging moves. Is it because they have amazing reaction time do they just have some weird jedi powers? Also, I would like to know why fighters like Nick Diaz with such awkward styles are so dangerous on their feet. I don't really know why their style is so successful?

Senserely yours,
MMAguywithaheartofgold

Dear MMAguywithaheartofgold,

First of all, you are totally right to believe that fighters like Anderson Silva or Manny Pacquiao have nearly jedi-like abilities because they pretty much are. These fighters have the unique abilities to see moves before they actually happen. They react so fast just because they know what is coming next. How does this happen, you may ask? You see, within our premotor cortex, there are these special types of neurons called mirror neurons. The amazing thing about these mirror neurons is that they fire when we do a specific goal directed tasks (throwing a punch or a kick) and when we observe other people do the same actions. What exactly is so special about these neurons, you may ask? Well, researchers have linked these mirror neurons to our ability to predict other people's behavior and to be able to react appropriately. It is therefore possible for fighters to sort of predict the next move of their opponent using their mirror neurons.

Really amazing fighters can fight at that level just because they have practiced so much. They have prepared so well. In fight camps, they watch countless hours of their opponent's fights in an attempt to understand their mannerisms and movements. Because they are trained in the same fight styles, their mirror neurons also fire, and this firing gives them their predictive abilities. Once the fight begins, when they see a certain mannerisms fighters have such as a click of the shoulder before a punch or the planting of the hind leg before a devastating leg kick, they can already react before the punch or kick is thrown. Their ability to do so, however, is totally dependent on their experience. The more familiar they are with the movements of their opponent, the more these mirror neurons fire and the better they can understand and react to their opponents movements.

If you think about it, mirror neurons explain some important aspects of the fight game. First of all, we are taught to never look at the area we are targeting. The gaze of an individual is said to be enough to activate the mirror neuron system of an individual which allow them to predict the intent of their opponent to damage that specific area. Fighters are also taught to throw faints. Faints force their opponents to keep on guessing. Their opponents react to what they believe will be a strikes which usually leave them open for certain opportunities.

Because familiarity of movements is so important in mirror neuron activation, some of the most dangerous fighters out there are the most awkward fighters of all. In fact, fighters like Manny Pacquiao and Nick Diaz were puzzles for such a long time because no one could really figure out their awkward style. Their strengths came from their abilities to throw punches from weird and different angles. Their unorthodox styles made it difficult for fighters to predict what they were gonna do next because their mirror neurons are not responding as much as they would when viewing more orthodox fighters. Therefore, when you fight fighters with such awkward styles, it may be more dangerous because you may never really know what they are gonna do next. As the saying goes, it is always the punch which you never see coming which knocks you out.

Senserely yours,
Jan

Sources:

Blakeslee, S. (2006). Cells that read minds. New York Times, 10, 1.

Goldstein, E.B. (2010). Sensation and Perception. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Heyes, C. (2010). Where do mirror neurons come from?. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 34(4), 575-583.

Photo Credits:

http://www.fighthubtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/173052762-300x211.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSVJM0tlcjuBKyHm3ziz1STv2fUW7Ow8MB2lbXs2DMCsv5uG98Z

The Talking Doll

Dear Senserely Yours, 

Hi! My name is Jessica and my son just had his 6th birthday party. One of the magic acts for the party was a ventriloquist and his puppet. My son wanted to get the "talking doll" for his next birthday. I explained to him that the doll was not talking and the voice came from the man that was holding the puppet. He believed me but now I'm starting to wonder how the ventriloquist does his illusion. I hope you can explain it to me!

Jess

Ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham, and Achmed

Dear Jess, 

First of all, I am glad that you hired a good ventriloquist for your son's birthday and that he wasn't afraid of it. I know some children who get scared of puppets.

Believe it or not, what you, your son, and the rest of the guests experienced is called the ventriloquism effect. The ventriloquism effect or visual capture happens when a sound seems to be coming from a certain visual source, even when the sound is actually coming from another location (Goldstein, 2010). In your situation, it would appear that the doll is talking, when in fact, the voice is coming from a talented actor. The image of the puppet’s mouth captures the ventriloquist’s voice. Another example of the ventriloquism effect would be when you watch TV, you perceive the voices coming from the actors lips, but in reality, they are coming from the speakers on the sides. What’s amazing is that you don’t even notice this difference!

Because the ventriloquism effect requires different sensory modalities, seeing and hearing, it is more generally referred to as an intersensory bias. Your eyes can tell your brain where a sound is coming from more convincingly than your ears can. (Warren, Welch, & McCarthy, 1981)

You might be wondering how does your brain “trick” you into thinking the voice is coming from the puppet. Well, a study done by Duke University found that sound localization is greater affected by feedback than synchrony (Hartsoe, 2013).  This means that the visual feedback you get from trying to find a sound with your eyes has a stronger effect than visual stimuli presented at the same time with sound. Looking at the puppet during a ventriloquism performance plays a role in causing the shift in where you hear the voice.

You can see how our different modalities interact to help us perceive the world better. Isn’t it amazing how the brain uses different information, like your eye movements and what you see to help you hear? I hope I explained the ventriloquism well, Jess. Until next time!

REFERENCES:

Goldstein, E.B. (2010). Sensation and Perception. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning

Hartsoe, S. (2013). Why We Look At The Puppet, Not The Ventriloquist. Retrieved from: http://today.duke.edu/2013/08/hearingstudy

Warren, D. H., Welch, R. B., & McCarthy, T. J. (1981). The role of visual-auditory “compellingness” in the ventriloquism effect: Implications for transitivity among the spatial senses. Perception & Psychophysics, 30(6), 557-564.

How should I listen to music?

Dear Jade,

I love music so much and I always listen to it. I use earphones most of the time because well, it’s convenient when I’m walking around and going to places. Recently though, I’m worried about my hearing. It somehow changed… I’m not really sure. I heard from my friends that too much listening to music on earphones could damage my hearing. Can you help me with this? What should I do? I don’t want to listen on speakers because I can’t “feel” the feel of the songs…

Slave of music,
Ash

Get Over It…

Dear V,

            I live with my grandfather and he becomes incredibly jittery whenever I play my zombie apocalypse games. Even worse is when my cell phone rings (and yeah they’re gunshots cuz guns are cool!), he also jumps up like a freaking jitter bug. I have had it with this over the top reaction, I know he disapproves of my choice of ringtones and hobbies but he could at least tell it to my face. In any case, what’s his deal? I asked my mom and she told me that my grandfather went to a war or something… but seriously… that was like centuries ago…

-Bart

Yow Bart!

            Give the old man a break. I’m not going to nitpick on details regarding your personal relationship with your grandfather but from what you just wrote, I’m betting that he’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and yes it might have been decades ago (I doubt your grandfather was alive centuries ago to begin with) there would still be remnant effects of such.

            Let’s look at it this way. I’m pretty sure you become happy whenever you hear the sound that signals an in-game achievement, right? Or when you listen to your rock songs (or whatever you kids nowadays enjoy) you get hyped, right? Those two situations show how powerfully sound can affect our emotions.

            It can work the other way around as well. Our emotions can actually affect how we hear and process sound. When particular sounds become associated in our brain with strong emotions, hearing similar sounds can evoke those same feelings, even far removed from their original context. Do you see where I am getting at? This phenomenon is commonly seen in combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which is likely the case for your grandfather. A pair of researcher has discovered how fear can actually increase or decrease the ability to discriminate among sounds depending on context; their findings give a new insight into the distorted perceptions of PTSD sufferers like your grandfather. The researchers thinks that there’s a strong link between mechanisms that control emotional learning, including fear generalization, and the brain mechanisms responsible for PTSD, where generalization of fear is abnormal but future research should focus on defining and studying this link. (Aizenberg & Geffen, 2013)

            Again give the old man a break. I would sound preachy but for his sake it would be best to lower the volume when you’re playing and change your ringtone to something else.

Senseryly yours,

V

Reference:

American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. pp. 271–280. ISBN 978-0-89042-555-8.

Aizenberg, M., & Geffen, M. N. (2013). Bidirectional effects of aversive learning on perceptual acuity are mediated by the sensory cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 16(8), 994-996. doi: 10.1038/nn.3443

Photo Credits:

http://www.sleepwellblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/sleep-problems-kids.jpg

Your Song

Dear Senserely Yours,

I was driving home from school when a song played on the radio. It. Was. Freakin. Amazing. I'm not quite sure if I heard it before but I don't know it just really captured me, it felt familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. I remembered the scene from 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' because I wanted to drive through a tunnel and stand at the back of a pickup truck except that I was stuck in traffic and I was driving a sedan. Anyway, I just wanted to ask how does music affect our emotions? And how are we able to identify songs or melodies? Gaaah I am still looking for the song, wish me luck! And thanks in advanced!

Amme Nostaw

Dear Amme Nostaw,

I hope you find your song! I experience the same thing when a song suddenly plays and I just lose myself and I just want to dance, dance, dance. So what is in a song that makes us stand on the back of pickup trucks or dance like the world isn't watching?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Tunnel Scene

Before answering that question, let's first talk about how we identify melodies. Fortunately, there is a study conducted by Schulkind, Posner, and Rubin (2003) to help us with this. Earlier studies on melody identification have proposed two different kinds of processing. The first kind is analytic processing which occurs when a listener breaks the melody down into its basic parts, analyzes each component on a note-to-note basis, and adds up all of the information contained in each note to understand the stimulus (Schulkind, Posner, and Rubin, 2003). However, the problem with this is that some listeners can recognize familiar melodies transposed to new keys or registers. Another way is to analyze the intervals between consecutive notes or the sequence of intervals. Listeners can, for example, remember the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as having contour directions like this ↓↓↓ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓.  Listeners represent these kind of contour information at this level of detail and the presiding representation depends on the familiarity and length of the melody (Schulkind, Posner, and Rubin, 2003). An analytic approach to melody identification is thus comprised of matching the strings of elements in the physical stimulus with a corresponding sequence that is stored in memory (Schulkind, Posner, and Rubin, 2003). Since melodies are stored as ordered strings of distinct, coherent elements, it is possible that information on individual notes may be lost because they are mixed into a unified percept. The individual elements are combined to form one meaningful object that is represented by its temporal structure and global pitch instead of the summation of its parts. This brings up the second approach which is holistic processing which states that listeners analyze the overall shape or structure of the melody. This may be achieved by matching the information about the global structure of a melody with its correspondent psychological representation.

After conducting a two-phase experiment, the researchers reached the conclusion that melody identification is more of a holistic process rather than analytic. Five musical characteristics were significant predictors of melody identification and four of these were holistic in nature. The first was phrase placement which is the placement of a note within a musical phrase. Another significant predictor were notes that completed successive alterations between rising and falling pitch contours. Thirdly, pair patterns were also significant predictors because they are easily encoded and remembered since they are salient. Lastly is the meter of the melody which provides the global framework of a piece. The only significant predictor that was analytic in nature was duration.

Now that we know how we are able to identify melodies, let's answer the other question: how does music affect our emotions? A neuroscientist and composer, Professor Daniel Levitin explains that the brain's emotional, language, and memory centers are connected when we process music which can be considered as a synesthetic experience (Mohana, 2013). Music has the ability to produce feelings and images that does necessarily need to be directly reflected in memory. The overall experience still keeps hold of a certain level of mystery; the reasons we get thrills when listening to music is strongly tied in with the many theories based on synesthesia (Mohana, 2013). The connection between the emotional, language, and memory centers is different for all of us, that is why there are people who have the ability to create music that is overflowing with emotions while some others cannot. Our preference for certain types of music also has an effect on our experience of it. If you love listening to music, your high level of experience allows you to create and imagine music that other people cannot. Truly, music is a very important part of our lives.

I hope I answered your questions, Amme. Good luck again, I hope you find your song! :)

Senserely Yours,

Holly

References

Mohana, M. (2013). Music & How It Impacts Your Brain, Emotions. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 19, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/music-how-it-impacts-your-brain-emotions/00017356

Schulkind, M.D., Posner, R.J., & Rubin, D.C. (2003). Musical features that facilitate melody identification. How do we know it's "your" song when they finally play it? Music Perception, 21(2), 217-249.

Photo Credits

http://radioresearch.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/knob.jpg

Who's That Girl?

Dear Tin,

       

     I love singing to the tune of my favorite songs. Nope, I’m not a singer, but that doesn’t stop me from recording my voice. It’s also my way of checking if I sound thaaat bad. Lol. But anyway, this entry has nothing to do with my voice quality or whatsoever. What I want to know is why I don’t recognize my own voice on recordings. Maybe you could help me understand why it sounds so different? I know that I’m hearing my own voice but I wonder why it doesn’t seem like me at all. It’s so weird!

-Frustrated Singer

Dear Frustrated Singer,

            Relax! You’re not alone. Everyone who has ever heard their own recorded voice probably had the same thing in mind. Perhaps you’ve also wondered why it’s easy to discriminate the voices of other people but it’s hard to identify your very own. Personally, I think my own recorded voice is more high-pitched than my ‘actual’ voice (and yes, it feels awkward listening to my own voice). To answer your question, we have to go to the basics of the auditory process and the pathways that the sound goes through.

            In normal conversations, we usually hear our voice as a product of both air-conducted sound and bone-conducted sound. But when we listen to our voice recordings, we only hear the airborne sound and not the bone-conducted one (Stenfelt, 2011). Clearly, this ‘missing’ stimulus is what accounts for the difference in sound that we perceive. According to Békésy, the two pathways of our own voice are approximated to be equally important (as cited in Stenfelt, 2011). The two ways of stimulation--- air-conducted and bone-conducted sound--- excite the same sensory cells involved in auditory perception (Stenfelt, 2011). To give you a clearer picture, let me tell you how the auditory system works. Auditory stimulation, through air-borne sound, involves the transmission of sound into the ear canal, the production of mechanical vibrations in the eardrum which goes through the middle-ear ossicles, and eventually, the change in sound pressure in the cochlea. When the auditory sensory cells become excited, sensation of hearing occurs.  

            

            Now, let’s focus on the ‘missing’ part that makes it hard for us to recognize our own recorded voice.  Bone conduction is the way by which sound energy becomes transmitted to the cochlea via the skull bones, and sound perception greatly results from the vibration of the basilar membrane (found in the cochlea) (Stenfelt, 2011). The main difference between air-conducted and bone-conducted transmission is that the outer, middle and inner parts of the ear play a big function for airborne sounds (as explained earlier) while bone-conducted sounds are more directly sent to the cochlea (inner ear). Interestingly, bone conducted vibration does not only pass through the skull but it also goes through other body parts, and thus, perception is not only limited to auditory means. Try placing your hand on your throat area, and notice how it vibrates when you talk.

            When other people hear your voice, they only have access to the airborne sound, and thus, they don’t receive the same stimulation that comes from bone-conducted sound. The same goes when you listen to another person’s voice. So that’s why it doesn’t bother you when you hear your friend’s voice as you chat or when you listen to a voicemail of your friend. You don’t find it weird because in both situations, you are only hearing the air-conducted sound. As for your own voice, it does sound different. If you’re still conscious about the way you sound to others, then you might want to check out this video for some tips. Hope you could link your SoundCloud (if you have one) to me some other time. I'd be happy to hear your recordings soon! :)  

Senserely yours,

Tin

Reference:

Stenfelt, S. (2011). Acoustic and physiologic aspects of bone conduction hearing. Advances in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, 71, 10-21.

Photo credits:

http://www.primebuyersreport.org/files/images/recording-woman2-000006006293XSmall.jpg

I Can Hear The Bells

Dear Senserely Yours,

I have homework from school about sounds in the environment and I'd like to ask your help. Every Saturday morning, my mom and I visit the church in our village for the early mass. As soon as the mass ends, the church bells ring. I noticed that the sounds they make create different echoes. What causes these echoes? and how is it possible that sound is replicated over and over? I would like to know. 

-HomeworkHelpee

Dear HomeworkHelpee,

Thanks for sending in your letter! We're glad to help you understand the sounds you perceive in your environment. First we have to know what produces sound and how does it travel to our ears. Sound is produced in sound "waves" like those on the beach. However, these sound waves are not visible to our eyes.This is because these "waves" are actually changes in the pressure in the air. Vibrations created by objects changes the air pressure around it and this travels through the air.Constant vibration makes the air more condensed and loose alternately through the processes of condensation and rarefaction (Goldstein, 2010).

In the environment, there are two types of sound which are direct and indirect sound. According to Goldstein (2010), direct sound is sound that travels a straight path directly into your ears. This normally happened in open spaces such as the outdoors. Indirect sound on the other hand is sound that bounces of or is reflected off a surface of an object before it reaches your ears. It is more common on indoor spaces since sound bounces off more objects while indoors such as the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. In outdoor environments, indirect sound can come from trees or nearby buildings.

An echo is a replication or repetition of sound. In outdoor environment, this replication of sound is achieved when sound waves you produce bounce off a surface, such as mountains or canyons, and are reflected back to your ears (Marshall, 2000). When this happens, the distance between the source of the sound and the surface it reflected upon creates a delay in the travel of sound. The perception of sound usually lasts for only 0.1 seconds in our memory ((The Physics Classroom, n.d.) This creates the effect of sound replicating itself because it creates a small delay between the perception of the original sound and the reflected sound.

Another way echoes are created is through long reverberation time. Reverberation time is the amount of time it takes for a sound to decrease to 1/1000th of its original pressure (Goldstein, 2010). Usually, the delay between the original sound and the reflected sound is less than 0.1 seconds.This means that it creates the perception that there is no delay but rather creating a prolonged sound. However, there are times when the reverberation time varies. Goldstein explained that when the reverberation time lasts for too long, the sound becomes muddled rather than prolonged. In cases where reverberation time is extremely long, echoes are created inside rooms.

So these are how echoes are created. I hope we were able to help you understand how sound travels in our environment, both indoors and outdoors, and how echoes are created in these environments. Good luck with your homework!

Senserely yours,
Dea

References:
Goldstein, E.B. (2010). Sensation and Perception. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Marshall, B. (2000). How Radar Works.  Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/radar.htm.
The Physics Classroom (n.d.). Echo vs. Reverberation. Retrieved from http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmedia/waves/er.cfm.

He does not act the way we do

He does not act the way we do

Dear Berna.

                Hello! I have a seven year-old boy, Daniel, who was diagnosed with autism the moment I gave birth to him. Yes, I know that children with autism behave differently from normal people. Daniel, unlike other kids, seem to be distant to me and to his classmates. He prefers to be alone and often throws tantrums and frights whenever I and his friends try to touch him. Despite all of those, what worries me the most is that Daniel seems to be "heartless" and with that, I'm referring to his emotionless look and acts as well as his seemingly loss of empathy towards others. Is my child having other problems aside from autism? Like personality disorders or some sort?

Sincerely yours,

Matilda

Dear Matilda,

       Good day! Thank you for e-mailing me your concern about your son, Daniel. I understand why you are so concerned with your son since he is behaves quite differently from the way children of his age do. Autism spectrum disorder or ASD has a wide sort of disorder ranging from the profoundly mentally-retarded individuals up to the brilliant and gifted individuals or savants. ASD affects about one in 166 children and is occurs more often in boys than in girls in a 4:1 ratio (Hadjikhani, 2007).  I assume you are already knowledgeable of the usual behaviors of children suffering from autism spectrum disorder such as communication and socialization problems, restricted and most of the time unusual range of interests, as well as engagement in repetitive behaviors (Ruble & Gallagher, 2004). However, I think the doctor of your child failed to explain to you the many reasons why these communication and socialization problems occur and how they are manifested physiologically in Daniel's body. Indeed, there are many factors coming into possibilities as to why these problems happen; neurotransmitters and brain activities being some of these factors. However, let me tell you about one factor that could possibly be influencing Daniel's "emotionless actions" and lack of emotional engagement to others -- the mirror neurons.

       Mirror neurons constitute a group of neurons in the premotor cortex as well as the inferior parietal cortex (Bolland, personal communication, 1 July 2008). These mirror neurons respond both to situations in which a person (or any other living organism) witnesses or sees someone doing something and when a person is actually doing the activity.  For instance, if a child sees someone picking up a ball, these mirror neurons are activated. When he himself picks up the ball, these neurons are also activated. Viewing an example in a social context, the mirror neurons of a person are activated whenever they see someone smiling and whenever they themselves do the smiling (Bolland, personal communication, 1 July 2008). Now I think you are getting a hint of it -- the destruction or defection of this mirror neuron system may cause inabilities for a person to mirror behaviors done by others and this damage is evident in people with various mental disorders. Indeed, one of them is the autism spectrum disorder.

         Hadjikhani (2007) stated in his article that individuals with autism may have impairments and dysfunctions in the functioning of their mirror neuron system and perhaps amygdala which are the primary physiological structures involved in the perception of others' empathy and intentions and social cognition in general. Empathy or the emotional engagement one has to other social beings primarily begins in the ability to imitate one's behaviors and feelings in order for one to understand them. Anticipating others' behaviors and intentions, involve mirroring what the other person is thinking and putting it in one's one thinking (Hadjikhani, 2007). Due also to the damage of the mirror neuron system of your child, Daniel, he is unable to mimic facial expressions such as smiling, crying, smirking, and the many other facial expressions. We, humans, have an innate predisposition to react emotionally to others' emotions and one way of doing this is through the use of the different facial expressions. However, since Daniel has dysfunctions in his mirror neurons, he is unable to mirror or mimic the facial expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, etc. This is the reason why he seems to have emotionless vibes and actions towards others.

       Now maybe you are wondering what would happen if certain techniques are done in order to heal Daniel's damaged mirror neuron system. If Daniel undergoes certain advancements (which I bet costs a lot), some of the symptoms of his autism could be alleviated (Ramachandran & Oberman, 2006). Since mirror neurons are involved in socializing with others, imitating facial expressions, empathizing with others, as well as communicating properly, if the mirror neurons are treated, Daniel could somehow behave normally with regards to other people.

       Matilda, I hope my response is of certain help to you and to Daniel. Knowing about Daniel only from your letter will not enable me to know whether he has other disorders. However, from what seems to be it, all symptoms you see from Daniel are characteristics of autistic individuals. We all know that Daniel as well as other children experiencing the autism spectrum disorder do not behave normally as what we expect from children of their age. Indeed, they are distant and somehow lacking of emotions; however, do not forget that they are still human beings who are in need of protection, understanding, and love especially from those who they believe will always be there for them.

Senserely yours,                                                                           

Bernadette

References:

Bollan, S. (1 July 2008). The mirror neuron revolution: Explaining what makes humans social [Personal communication]. Retrieved 17 February 2014.

Hadjikhani, N. (2007). Mirror neuron system and autism. Progrss in Autism Research, 151-166. NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Ramachandran, V.S. & Oberman, L.M. (2006). Broken mirrors: A theory of autism. Scientific American, 62-69. USA: Scientific American, Inc.

Ruble, L. & Gallagher, T. (2004). Autism spectrum disorders: Primer for parents and educators. MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Photo credits:

http://goodgreatexceptional.tumblr.com/post/65281698327/

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Dear Yana,

I usually go to the park every morning  for a jog and enjoy the scenery after by sitting on a bench for at least half an hour. As I went about with this usual routine, I noticed a curious thing. Across the park from the bench I usually sit in is a sidewalk, with railings at the edge consisting of two strands of chain strung between the posts. I attached a picture of my view at the park so that you may understand clearly before I describe to you what I noticed. 

As you can see, the chain linked fence runs across the whole sidewalk. What I noticed was, when viewed from this distance, I seem to see that the bicycles running on the sidewalk beside this fence does not only move forward, but also bobs up and down in phase with the contour of the chains. When I decided to go to the sidewalk to take a closer look, I saw that the pavement was flat and smooth, and therefore does not serve as the reason for my perception of the bicycle's up and down motion. 

What could possible account for this? I am really trying to figure this out. It has bothered me for months.

Hoping you can reply the soonest.

Senserely yours,

Confused jogger 23


Dear Confused Jogger 23,

Thank you for writing to us! I am an avid jogger myself and, believe it or not, I've noticed the exact same thing you have just described! Apart from what you have just explained to me, I also noticed another curious thing - when seen at a nearer distance at a seemingly larger point of view, the motion of the bicycle does not seem to move along similar to the contours of the chains but in the opposite direction. Between the posts, where chains have the tendency to loop downward, the motion of the bicycle seem to move upward; while in areas near the post where the tendency of the loop is to move upward, motion of the bicycle seem to move downward.

Luckily for us, a study done by Masson, Dodd, & Enns (2009) demonstrated and explained the phenomenon we both have just described. They called this phenomenon the Bicycle Illusion. Their explanation of this illusion provides an opportunity for understanding the way human vision integrates information from multiple sources - a stationary shape (the fence) and the position in space of an object in motion (the cyclist) (Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009).

According to their research, motion integration governs the process of the perception of the Bicycle Illusion. How does this happen? Signals are assimilated (averaged) and are derived from two sources often considered to be processed in distinct systems in the brain and their interaction - the processing of stationary shape (ventral visual stream) versus the processing of motion in the dorsal visual stream (Livingstone & Hubel, 1987; Ungerleider & Haxby, 1994; Van Essen & DeYoe, 1995 as cited in Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009).

One explanation of the process in the perception of the bicycle illusion is that some of the spatial properties of the stationary rails are used incorrectly by our visual system in determining the position of the bicycle in motion. Masson, Dodd, and Enns (2009) proposed that the  position of the moving bicycle in space is represented with greater uncertainty than that of the stationary rails. An explanation for this disparity in certainty is that the object in motion has very little contour in comparison with the rails, that the contours of an object in motion can be represented less than those of stationary objects. The large viewing distance and the limits of acuity contribute to the differences in representation between the bicycle and rails. In other words, the higher certainty of the contours of the rails are being used to determine the position in space of the lower certainty contours of the moving bicycle (Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009).

As I have already described, the bicycle illusion can have two effects: an illusion of bobbing up and down along the contours of the railings, as you have described, or the illusion of its movement opposite to the contours of the railings, as I have added. These effects are determined largely by a difference in the size of the display by which motion is seen - with a small display, the bicycle appears to bob up and down, which creates and illusion of assimilation (also called motion capture). Meanwhile, a large version of the display produces an illusion of opposition (also called induced motion). What factors contribute to these effects?

In their study, Masson, Dodd, & Enns (2009) explained that motion capture (illusion of assimilation) is more likely for smaller central stimuli and that motion opposition increases in likelihood as size is increased (Murakami & Shimojo, 1993; Nawrot & Sekuler, 1990 as cited in Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009). Additionally, spatial frequency and luminance contrast tend to differentiate these two illusions, with motion capture more likely to occur with surrounding stimuli of a lower frequency and central stimuli of a lower contrast (Ido et al., 1997, 2000 as cited in Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009).Taken in the light of motion integration just described, the bicycle illusion is also size and luminance contrast dependent. The difference, however, can be noted in how the stimulus in the bicycle illusion is entirely stationary (aka railings). This fact implies that an analysis of motion may be influenced at a relatively early stage by an analysis of the stationary background in which the motion of the bicycle is occurring (Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009).

To further illustrate the bicycle illusion,  a combination of mechanisms, including explanations for different motion illusions, are involved. As already mentioned, motion integration - combining local motion signals through perceptual grouping - helps explain the bicycle illusion. Additionally, the aperture problem helps in explaining this illusion through determining the direction of motion by the orientation of local edges. For example, the wheels of the bicycle can be thought of as being viewed through the "aperture" of the sagging chain rails. As such, the leading edge of the wheel may appear to be oriented with a negative slant in the upward portion of the rails and then oriented with a positive slant in the downward direction of the rails (Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009). Moreover, the stepping feet illusion provides additional explanation to the bicycle illusion problem.This illusion explains that the apparent speed of a moving object depends on the difference in the relative luminance contrast between the object's surfaces and those of the background on which it is moving (Thompson, 1982 as cited in Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009). Specifically, an object moving at a constant velocity will appear to move faster when moving against a background that differs sharply in contrast and to slow down when the contrast of the background is more similar.

The bicycle illusion can be explained through a difference in contrast in that edges of the moving object are weaker due to  its edge contrast being more similar to that of the rails, instead of being compared to the reduced edge contrast of the background. As a result, the strongest local motion signals are coming from between the rails, and so the edge will appear to move along the direction of the sagging rails, rather than horizontally as they are really moving (Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009).

As a final point, opposition is experienced because at larger viewing angles, the contours of the moving object and that of the rails are more readily differentiated. This is due to increased acuity that comes with larger size. Viewing small displays has the effect of minimizing subtle differences between the edges of the moving object and the edges of rails. As the elements of the scene are enlarged and the individual shapes are represented with greater accuracy, the confusion arising from the neighboring edges of the moving objects and rails is also reduced, allowing global grouping mechanisms to link the signals from the object above, below, and between the rails (Masson, Dodd, & Enns, 2009). Perceptual grouping and segregation as a result serve to exaggerate differences between objects and as such, leads to the illusion of motion opposition described earlier.

I know it may seem a handful but I hope that I was able to shed some light on the matter! As you can see, there are several factors that are  integrated for our perception of the bicycle illusion. Do continue to be observant as you might discover other illusions of motion around you!

Senserely yours, 

Yana

Reference

Masson, M.J., Dodd, M.D., & Enns, J.T. (2009). The bicycle illusion: Sidewalk science informs the integration of motion and shape perception. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception And Performance, 35(1), 133-145. doi:1-.1037/0096-1523.35.1.133

"Listen... to the song here in my heart"

Dear I Say,

            Lately, my boyfriend hasn’t really been listening to me. His mind seems to be preoccupied with something else and we usually fight about it because it makes me feel neglected. But last night, I got so scared because I saw my parents fighting for the exact same reason! My mom got mad at my dad for not listening to her, to what she was telling him. They fight about this day in and day out, and I’m scared that my boyfriend and I might end up in the same situation soon! I don’t want us to be the couple that always fights, and never has fun. Please help us not have those same problems. What can I do so that my boyfriend and I could stop fighting?

           

Senserely yours,

Ms. Confused

You want your boy to listen to you? Here, belch out some Beyonce-hitting notes and may be he'll finally lend you an ear!

Hey Ms. Confused!

            Don’t worry about you and your boyfriend ending up like your parents! First of all, they’re married, so that’s one big difference that your relationships have.  Secondly, they have been together for probably more than twenty years, which is another big difference you have with them. So you don’t have to worry about ending up just like them! I know it’s one common fear that we all have, and we do what we can to not end up like our parents. But a wise man once told me that the more we try to be the opposite of who are parents are, the more that we may become like them. So just sit back, relax, and don’t worry your pretty little head too much.

            And if those reasons aren’t enough for you, let me feature a psychological study that might illustrate my point better. Researchers from the Queen’s University in Canada have shown the world, through the Psychological Science journal that couples tend to easily tune out the voice of their partners when presented with the voices of strangers. For this study, they took couples whose ages ranged from 44-79 (which is probably where your parents’ age falls) to participate. They recorded the voice of their spouse, and played it against voices of unfamiliar people who were also talking, and asked the participants to note what the unfamiliar voice was saying. They found out that the middle-aged couples could easily understand what the stranger’s voice was saying, effectively tuning out their partner’s voice. But when it came to older couples, researchers noted that it was harder for them to distinguish what the other voice was saying, and instead focused on the voice of their own partner. Now isn’t that sweet? They also saw similar effects with couples who have only been together for 5 years or less. They also had a hard time blocking out the voice of their partner when placed with another voice.

            So really, you have no reason to worry. It will take a couple of years before you and your partner come to the point wherein you can easily block the other one out. (But of course, that’s assuming you last that long. Just kidding!) Maybe your boyfriend is just going through some things, or is busy worrying about his upcoming exams or games this coming week. Try to be more understanding and give him the benefit of the doubt. And if you hear your parents arguing again, just tell your mom that it’s hard to make your dad change, especially when his brain is already pre-wired to act that way!

Senserely yours,

I Say Hontiveros <3

Sources: Ross, P. Tuning out spouses: Science says ignoring your better half is what we're wired to do. International Science Times. Retrieved from : http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5981/20130831/tuning-out-spouses-science-ignoring-marriage.htm

Couples can recognize or tune out their spouse's voice. (2013, Dec 31). GeoBeats News. [Video podcast]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlUBA-Hxqp8‎

Paint the Town *insert hue*

Dear Yana,

                I’ve been on an out-of-town trip recently and I noticed a curious thing – whenever I recall all the different places I went to, there’s always a certain color formed in my head that is associated to one scene. When I recalled the time I went to the beach, I see the color blue; that time when I went hiking in the mountain, I see green; when I went back to the city, I always remember it having a gray hue. I understand that these different scenes have their own characteristic color that may be due to the different elements and objects found in them. What I am interested in is how my memory for these scenes seem to be associated with every day images, giving each color a “character”. When I see gray objects, I think of the hussle and bustle of city life; when I see green objects, it reminds me of taking that hiking trip; when I see blue, I am reminded of the cool and fresh breeze on the beach. 

How does this happen?

Senserely yours,

Paris Hilton

Dear Paris Hilton,

Thank you so much for writing and supporting our online blog! In order to address your question, it is first important to explain how color contributes to memory, particularly memory on the information in a natural scene.

In a study done by Wichmann, Sharpe, & Gegenfurtner (2002), identified several factors that contribute to recognition memory for color images. They have found that surface property color does play an important role in recognition memory for natural scenes. Some of the factors they have identified are

     1) Color Information facilitates storage in memory (cognitive facilitation)

-          At least for complex natural images, surface property color is stored in memory

-          There is an interaction between conceptual prior knowledge about scenes and the benefit color has to memory retention

-          Sensory information (surface color) and conceptual knowledge must not be in conflict for the benefit to occur, as evidenced by the fact that the recognition memory advantage disappears for falsely colored images of natural scenes (dependent on the color congruence of presented images with learned knowledge about the color pattern of a scene)

-          There exists two memory components explaining the effects of color on human memory: 1) achromatic object system based on the structure of the scene, and 2) surface-based episodic memory system storing color information

               2)  Color Increases Attention

          3) Color helps in improving segmentation (sensory facilitation)

-          One example of how color facilitates scene segmentation and thus, recognition, is seen in how for landscapes and rock formations, the color information appears superficially and rather redundant. Whereas it appears highly important for flower images. One can say that the surface property of color is much richer for flowers than for rock formations). Nevertheless, all objects can benefit from the chromatic information

-          The study shows that the extraction of chromatic information must be very fast and that color is being processed faster than most other features. This presents a conflict with results from past research where processing of color is seen to be slower in the visual cortex (Munk, Nowak, Girard, Chounlamountri, & Bullier, 1995 as cited in Wichmann, Sharpe, & Gegenfurter, 2002).

-          Color recognition memory for images of natural scenes are superior to that for black-and-white images if the same scenes for presentation times as short as 16 ms (Gegenfurter & Rieger, 2000 as cited in Wichmann, Sharpe, & Gegenfurter, 2002).

Thus, we can see that color does facilitate memory. This may help explain the fact that when you recall scenes in your mind, there is always that characteristic color that is associated with a scene (e.g. blue – beach, green – mountain, gray – city). To further describe how color facilitates recognition of a scene, we now focus on how memory can help in the recognition of scene gist and of scenes in general. The gist of the scene or scene gist refers to a general description of a type of scene (Goldstein, 2010).

 A study done by Castelhano & Henderson (2008) has shown that color has an influence across a wide variety of scenes and is directly associated with scene gist. Their study shows that removal of color information from normal scenes produced no effect on the activation of a scene gist; however, when structural information was degraded (i.e. the scene was blurred), color had an effect on the activation of a scene gist. We can see that color produced a more pronounced bias effect in blurred scenes. These results suggest that color plays a role in the activation of scene gist but that it is dependent on the quality of structural information (Castlhano & Henderson, 2008). This also supports the finding from Wichmann, Sharpe, & Gegenfurter (2002) study that there are two memory components to the effect of color on memory: structural information and color information.

The ability of color to produce a more pronounced bias effect in blurred scenes shows that it may have acted as a segmenter of scene regions or a direct cue for scene gist (Castelhano & Henderson, 2008). These two functions of color represents two hypothesis respectively – the segmentation hypothesis (color contributes only when the structure is degraded as it helps recover some of the boundary edges that are lost in blurred images; implies that only structure can directly activate scene gist) and the color association hypothesis (color itself is associated with scene gist and can act as a direct cue). Castelhano & Henderson (2008) imply, however, that both the structure and color associated with scene gist can contribute directly to activation.

In a set-up where scenes are presented in a wrong hue, response and recognition was significantly slowed. This shows that the wrong hues could hev potentially cued other scene gists and thus interfere with the activation of the correct scene gist. This suggests that color can act as a continuum in which it can be facilitative or inhibitory depending on how close the colors resemble a matching prototype of a scene (Castelhano & Henderson, 2008). In terms of varying amounts of structure information, man-made scenes are seen as having more unique shapes that are consistently associated with a certain scene type (e.g. beds in bedrooms, counters in kitchens) as compared with natural scenes (e.g. trees can appear in parks, backyards, forests, etc). When these structural information are insufficient, color contributes to the activation of a scene gist.

We have already emphasized that structure information and color information interact for the recognition and memory of scenes. Studies (Wichmann, Sharpe, & Gegenfurtner, 2002; Castelhano & Henderson, 2008) also show the contribution of a third factor – conceptual knowledge. Memory for the details of a briefly presented scene is often “based on the scene’s associated semantic category and is affected by its associated schemas, not the actual details present in the scene” (Brewer & Treyens, 1981; Hollingworth & Henderson, 1999; Intraub, 1981 as cited in Castelhano & Henderson, 2008).

Thus, Paris Hilton, your memory of scenes and the color you associate with these scenes, as well as how you are able to associate various objects to these scenes, is dependent on the interplay of three factors – structure of the scene, color information, and your conceptual prior knowledge of the scene. As with any other perceptual process, you can see that there is a combination of both bottom-up and top-down processes.

I hope that I was able to answer your questions. Cheers to all your future travels!

Senserely yours,

Yana



References

Castelhano, M.S., & Henderson, J.M. (2008). The influence of color on the perception of scene gist. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception And Performance, 34(3), 660-675. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.34.3.660

Goldstein, E.B. (2010). Sensation and Perception [Eighth edition]. Canada: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 

Wichmann, F.A., Sharpe, L.T., & Gegenfurtner, K.R. (2002). The contributions of color to recognition memory for natural scenes. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, And Cognition, 28(3), 509-520. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.28.3.509