4nomore.net » biology http://4nomore.net Musings of a memeplex - a mixture of thoughts, books, ... Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:40:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Extrapolating visual input into the future – and optical illusions http://4nomore.net/2008/07/extrapolating-visual-input/ http://4nomore.net/2008/07/extrapolating-visual-input/#comments Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:55:48 +0000 xabbu http://4nomore.net/?p=600 As the visual processing takes some time (in the order of 1/10th of a second), the brain will try to extrapolate a given visual stimulus this time into the future. This makes sense, but of course can go wrong sometimes – and in this article this fact is used to explain many of the optical illusions.
Very interesting unifying explanation for many of these phenomena!

See the paper by Mark Changizi “Latency correction and a general theory of illusions”.

]]> http://4nomore.net/2008/07/extrapolating-visual-input/feed/ 1 Enhanced Senses: BodyHacking http://4nomore.net/2007/04/enhancedsenses-bodyhacking/ http://4nomore.net/2007/04/enhancedsenses-bodyhacking/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2007 06:17:00 +0000 admin http://4nomore.net/wordpress/2007/04/enhancedsenses-bodyhacking/ Very interesting Wired article about extending or adding senses to the human body: I very much like the idea – and would love to try it – of the belt of vibrating units always indicating the direction north called feelSpace. It seems that the body is able to learn to subconsciously translate the vibrations around the waist into a new ‘orientation sense’.

In a somewhat similar direction there is a fascinating talk by Quinn Norton (slides, video) about functional body hacking – which includes for example the (not recommended) implant of a small magnet into a fingertip – enabling a completely new sense of our environment. This also sounds pretty cool – I wonder whether one could get a similar new feeling by not implanting it, but always attach a small magnet to a fingertip?

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