Mind Tricks

                                    http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Eye-Benders-Shutterstock1

             The human brain is a strange and wonderful thing. It manages our instincts, behaviors coded into our bodies from the time where death was always around the corner. It contains our perceptions, ways one’s experiences have colored the world around them for the best and the worst. Sensations and stimulants control the way we exist. Sight, sound, touch, taste, smell; our world is defined by our senses.

   So… what happens when they lie to us?

                Everything that the brain does is done for the efficiency and/or the safety of its body. Because of this, it can be inferred that the changes in awareness and sensation caused by one’s senses are intended to use past experiences to predict the outcomes of future actions. The body subconsciously analyzes these expectations and reacts accordingly.

The way food looks has been shown to effect its flavor. For example, sweeter flavors have been reported in deserts served on white plates over black plates. 

In a widely replicated experiment, researchers put red dye into white wine. Wine enthusiasts have often spoken about how different the flavors of red and white wine are, but with the simple inclusion of the dye (which has no effect on flavor), even those dedicated to the study of different wines began using descriptions common to red wine for the red-dyed white wine.

The mind plays tricks on everyone every day. Shadows can give false impressions of color; phantom pains, or even sympathy pains, can plague others; and even the sizes and coloring of plates can deceive someone into eating less, eating healthier, and feeling full faster.

 By concentrating on one specific portion of an area, we can become blind to that which occurs around us. 

Whether seeking out similar phenomenon or simply trying to become more informed, it should be noted that something as seemingly innocent as a lapse in the logic in one’s physical senses can have devastating effects.

Imagine a man driving home from work. He pulls up to a stop sign in a relatively deserted part of town. Every time he has ever driven up to that spot, no cars have been moving in either direction. Habitually, he stops, looks both ways, sees nothing, and then pulls into the street. In the next second, he and another car collide. How is this possible? Complacency is the answer.

Because the man had been to that same stop so frequently and never saw any other cars, his eyes supplanted the image of an empty road into his head and prompted him to continue with his drive. We must be careful that we do not lose our cautiousness during potentially unsafe activities.

If appearances can warp our perceptions and comfort can block out the approach of looming threats, what else are our brains hiding from us?

Let this be a warning to think about what you see, feel, taste, hear, smell, and why. Not everything that our brains interpret (or do not) is beneficial to us in this world of technological wonders.

              "Instinct" is not enough anymore.