theiconoclast.info

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=face+recognition&aq=0&oq=face+rec&aqi=g4&start=0

Consider the following:

·         People asked to describe a face after seeing it are worse at recognizing that same face later

·         People that are asked to describe the taste of a wine after drinking it are worse at recognizing that same wine later

 In psychology, this effect is known as verbal overshadowing, and it has been demonstrated in study after study. Basically, recognizing faces and tastes are nonverbal tasks. For some reason, trying to use words to accomplish a nonverbal task will make people worse at that task later. Scientists do not yet fully understand this process.

Source:

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

I’ve recently been taking time to research mentalism. Mentalism is, in my opinion, the coolest area of magic. In mentalism, the magician (known as a mentalist), uses psychology and suggestion to create the illusion of mind reading, mind control, and extrasensory perception. That definitely beats card tricks. Think Criss Angel, Derren Brown, or “The Mentalist”.

Like all magic, it turns out that the secrets behind mentalism aren’t nearly as exciting as one would expect. One of the biggest secrets of mentalism is the use of psychological forces. In a psychological force, a mentalist will ask a person to think of something, perhaps a color, and then predict their response. However, as most people think in similar ways and share a common culture, many people will happen to think of the same thing when asked the same question. Let’s try this out. Don’t scroll down to far on this page or the experiment won’t work.

Please do each of the following things, and write your responses down.

Name a color.

Think of a number between 1 and 10.

Think of a pretty flower.

Think of a piece of furniture.

Think of a vegetable.

Look outside the nearest window and write the first object you see.

Now, here are the results a mentalist would predict:

Color: red

Number: 7

Flower: Rose

Furniture: Chair

Vegetable: carrot

Outside the window: tree

What do you think? Did it work? If it didn’t work, mentalists have methods of working around that.  But that’s for another post…

You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.

How’d I do? Does this describe you? It describes me too. Check out the Forer Effect:

http://www.skepdic.com/forer.html

http://www.psychometric-success.com/images/PC0201.gif

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (copyrighted, I don’t know how to type that little thing that symbolizes copyrighted-ness) is a personality test given to over two million people in the United States per year. If you are a high school student, your school probably uses it somehow to help you think about careers and college. The MBTI will break down your personality according to where you fall on 4 scales: (1) extraversion/introversion, (2) sensate/intuitive, (3) thinking/feeling, and (4) judging/perceiving. It all sounds very nice, and very scientific.

However, I’ve always been skeptical of the Myers-Briggs test. I have three reasons for this. First of all, I have taken the test multiple times, and each time I have gotten different results. Second, how is one supposed to accurately answer some of the questions on the test? I would think that your response to such questions as “often you prefer to read a book instead of going to a party”, would be highly influenced by your mood and the context. Also, wouldn’t it depend upon which book and which party were being considered?

The final reason I’m skeptical about the Myers-Briggs test is the Forer effect. The Forer effect refers to people’s tendency to rate vague statements that could apply to anyone as uniquely descriptive of them. This is why people often believe that they meet the description of “their sign” in astrology. In personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs test, I believe that the description one receives of their type is so vague that it could really apply to anyone. For a more thorough and referenced debunking of the Myers-Briggs test and description of the Forer effect, check out my main sources below.

http://www.skepdic.com/myersb.html

http://www.skepdic.com/forer.html

A few weeks ago, I met a girl who informed me that, if I want an interesting experience and have some free time, I should deprive myself of sleep and see how I feel. She told me that, if you haven’t slept for 72 hours, you are classified as legally insane. Furthermore, she said she tried it and kept a journal of her experiences. Obviously, I hang out with interesting people.

Never the less, I took her world for it. I wanted to try this, and write about my experience here. But my parents wouldn’t let me. So I decided to do the next best thing. Research it and see if I could find a sleep deprivation report to post here.

First of all, it turns out that there is no objective law that states “Anyone who has not slept for 72 hours is considered legally insane.” This is an urban myth. However, sleep deprivation has many affects on the body, and may be a possible reason for insanity if argued in court. Instead of listing and describing the affects of sleep deprivation, here is a journal of someone who deprived themselves of sleep for five days:

It is

1:00 PM, Saturday, March 27.

I haven’t slept in 5 hours.

I’m feeling normal right now. I slept ~8 hours last night.

———————- It is

2:00 PM, Sunday, March 28.

I haven’t slept in 29 hours.

Right now I’m feeling drowsy. I’ve been drinking a cup of coffee every now and then, and it’s working well. Through the night, I kept myself occupied as best as I could with movies and computer games. Staying awake wasn’t a challenge. I have no change in mood at the moment, although I am starting to feel slightly sluggish. I’m not quite as enthusiastic as I usually am about day to day activities. Overall, nobody I associate myself with has been able to tell I’m lacking sleep.

———————-

It is

5:00 PM, Monday, March 29.

I haven’t slept in 56 hours.

Right now I’m starting to get extremely apathetic towards everyday things. My performance in day-to-day dealings and events is extremely uninvolved. I’m starting to get slightly irritable and impatient with people who make mistakes/act stupid around me. Staying up is increasingly difficult. I find that if I do anything aside from quickly blinking, I nod off to sleep. This has happened 5-6 times, but I’ve snapped out of it. Caffeine is becoming a major factor in staying awake. I can’t perform complex literary/mathematical functions without many careless errors. Through the night I no longer watched TV - I was in danger of falling asleep. I must keep myself involved… busy to stay awake. My eyes are becoming slightly red, and slightly pained. This pain can only be relieved by closing them, which I simply cannot do. My reflexes are beginning to slowly dwindle.

It took me a while to correct grammatical and spelling errors in this update. There may still be some, but I don’t have the patience to fix them.

———————-

it is

8 pm, wed march 30′

i haven slept in 83 hrs

i can barely keep my eyelids open. i have to fight so hard not to just lose it and fall asleep. will power is is starting to become i bigger part of staying awake. ive abandoned any sort of activivty to requires intense attention because i just get frustrated- i lash out at people that get in my way and i find myself to be really irritable whn i can muster up enough energy and will power to yell at someone. caffeine is constantly coming into my body, and ive taken severla nodoze tablets. im not going to try anything illegal like meth because i decided this should be fairy level stated when awake this is really fucking difficult. i feel extremely apathetic to all sorts of things right now and generally dont give a shit. my eyes are extremely sore right now, and very red on top. at hour 70-72 somewhere i developed a dull headache that has been grwing in tension. i feel terrible and am close to mentally giving up and sleepng

-phlab,

———00000000

it is 6pm wednesd mar 31

havent slept in 105 hrs

my eyes are burnng horribly an seem to be bloodshot. as far as reaction time goes, its almost nonexistant. i had friend throw something at me, and didnt even bother flinching. needless to say it hurt, but felt duller and insignificant to if i was rested. nothing but incoherent thoughts ar ronning through my head, i cant concentrate on a thing. when i do talk i ramble nmeedlesly, mumbling notbhing but jibberish. my sense of taste is dwindlng, althoy i think i may just be imagining it. i try to keep myself busy drinkng coffee and other diuretics to keep myslf busy and pissin so i cant sleep with full bladder. as im writin this, im in danger of sleeping because this chasir is padded. i must stay in unconfortable positions endlessly to stay awake. my muscles are aching and sore all over my body from not gvng them a break. asi attemtp to watch tv, im tryng to listen and comprehend but its extremely unclearand i dont understand dont understand. i think i may be hearing things, auditory hallucinations, but im gambling thats its simply a placebo effect because thats what im expecting. i cnst explain myself right now ,this is so full of errors but i cannot allot my concrentration tow fixing thm,. if these auditory hallucinations continue and i can confirm that theyy rre actully hapnign, im stang up 6 dyas. hah. i doubt that somehow. i just want o sleep, its all i can hthink about. im feeling delirious-

with l ove

phlab

—————————————————

its 3pm, thurs. april 1

i haven not slept in 126 hrs

my mental aptitude is completely shot. words that come out of my mout are completely random ; nonsensicle. i have found a good way of keepng myself awake and active is wlaking around the neighbordhood. the fresh air, sun, and public environment somehow tells me brain it is not appropriate to fall asleep in the outdoor public setting, which somehow is relieving some of the severe urges to sleep. in addition to complete mental exauhstion, i am physically deprived. i cannot eat a thing, only takng in liquids. my appetite is completely gone, i havent eaten in 14-16 hours or so. time is beginning to drag, an percetion of it is slightly more difficult. my entire body is sore and the pain in my eyes is at a peak as im writing. the headache has gradually increased and is making is difficult to to stay much mawake more. in additon, i am developing a slight stomach ache that is more of a nuisance than anything. when all physical ailments are combined with complete mental emptyness this makes for an awful experience. i am certiain i am hearing audioty hallcunations - i hear a cat mewo despite thatfact thast i own no cats. i also hear a weird series of bleeps in different tones - i cannot find the sourceo f them. i snap in and out of an almost trancelike state wher i look at a random object an space out. ifeel delirious, a frien came over to check on me asi told him to, and he thought it was funny that my statements were halfbaked nonsensical jibberish. i no longer simply walk - it is more of a staggerlike lurchin g. my balance is also off. out of the corner of my eyes i believe im seeing visual disturbances an interruptions. no hallucinations - i imagin thos come muhc later - just ripples an slight distortions in my periphial. it may not even be a true hallucination, just delerium. i am so fatigued tha if sonmeone offered me to sprint around a track once for 100 grand, i most likely couldnt. when i fill my head with thoughts of going to sleep and curling up in bed under a blanket, i get a dumb smuile on my face. for all i know, it could be my brain releasing positive chemicals of some sort to will me into sleepng. i hope what i’m saying is makng sense. i have little attention span and my short term memory seems to to be weakened so i wrote thi update over about half an hour. i hav reached my goal an will stay up slightly longer to futrher explor auditory hallulcinations and see if the visuals increas. if not, im going to go to bed. i have a grin on my gesicht jsyt thinking about it,.

thansk for readng. it will be interesntg to go over this log when ii ma fully rested an analy it a little after sleepngm.for the record the only stimulant usedd was caffeine, wich i stope usng 12 hrs ago becauee the comedown was killin g me./

goodnight. dropping into bed will be GOOD FEELNGI..

Phlab-

Source: http://www.modrs2.info/en/fringe/fringe_science/effectsofsleep173704.html

The Iconoclast: Get Smarter

If you are lucky enough to be a member of my audience, chances are that you are all ready pretty smart. But then again, who wouldn’t want to be smarter if they could? Typing “become smarter” into Google produces over 12,700,000 results (in a handy 0.22 seconds). Regrettably however, many of the things these websites will tell you to do are either obvious (like getting a good night’s sleep and eating breakfast), mundane (teaching you how to study), or not backed up by even the smallest amount of science (taking a herb called ginkgo biloba). But fortunately, scientists may have discovered (a year or so ago) a way to actually make one legitimately smarter…

Go to  http://www.soakyourhead.com/ . They explain the research better than I’m willing to take the time to. But in summary, this is a link to a computer game (yes, a computer game) that has been shown in preliminary studies to boost IQ if played regularly. I used to play this game a lot (last summer), and although I don’t know if it produced any IQ improvement, I do know that I improved substantially at the game. Enjoy…

Brad Rybinski

I did a lot this Memorial Day weekend. One of the best things I did was go to a party with the people I work with in my lab. It was fun and interesting. But more importantly, I ran into a perfect example of evolutionary psychology…

Evolutionary psychology is branch of psychology that attempts to explain behaviors and psychological traits as adaptations that have been selected over millions of years of human evolution. It has valid criticisms, but is becoming more and more accepted in the scientific community and is an extremely useful tool for explaining people’s subconscious motivations for their actions. In other words, evolutionary psychology provides explanations not for why people do what they do, but why they want to do what they do. Anyway back to the lab party…

When I first got there, the host was graciously offering everyone drinks. After jokingly requesting (and subsequently being denied) a beer, I said I was fine and not thirsty. And I legitimately wasn’t thirsty. However, the host then asked me two more times if I wanted to have something to drink, and I eventually accepted. This persistence didn’t bother me, but I began to wonder: Why did he keep asking? And then I remembered something I read a long time ago…

Evolutionary psychology has the perfect explanation for this phenomenon. When people share food and drink, it is a form of social bonding. It works in the following manner: When people eat a large meal together, their body functions slow down as they digest the food. Consequently, this makes them less alert. Anyone who is at a social gathering, and not eating and drinking while others are, is thus subconsciously seen as wishing to remain tense and on-guard, and thus they are perceived as suspicious. Source: The Origins of Virtue Matt Ridley

As a direct result of this, evolutionary psychology suggests that hosts will want to “make their guests comfortable” by making sure they consume food and drink. And consciously, this is a very kind and polite motive. However, this pleasant conscious motive, evolutionary psychology says, only really exists because the human mind has been molded by millions of years of natural selection for the more strategic reasons above… Thoughts?

Source: http://www.bestbalidriver.com/pics/monkey_food.jpg

Brad Rybinski

People are truly are fascinating. Think of a number between 1 and 10. Did you pick 7? If not, did you pick 3? If you picked another number, congratulations, as most people will have picked either 7 or 3. No one knows why this is so, but it has held up in study after study.

There are lots of little facts like that about human psychology. For instance, ask someone to pick an item of clothing from a table, and most people will always pick the one farthest to the right. Yet if you ask a person why they picked their item, they will most likely tell you how good it will look on them, how soft it feels, or that they like its color. They will certainly not say that they chose it because it is the one farthest on the right.

The facts above happen to be trivial subtleties of human psychology. However, one can easily imagine a fact like these that may not be trivial. For instance, would you believe that people are more likely to be lenient and forgiving after they have washed their hands? Recent research suggests that we are. (For more information, go to http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081201081915.htm .) Imagine the consequences this could have. What if jury members were required to wash their hands before court? What if a judge washed his hands before sentencing?

Thoughts?

Brad Rybinski