Do we think up what we see?

[From Kenny Kitzke 11.8.98 900 CDT]

FYI and comment.

BNN, Bubba News Network

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                   Do We Think Up What We See?

                   To a nervous hiker traipsing along in a thick forest at
                   dusk, curved sticks become snakes, and beady little
                   eyes peer out from almost every bush, or so it seems.

                   Believing could indeed be like seeing, though,
                   according to a new study by researchers at the Max
                   Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tuebingen,
                   Germany, and at the University of Wisconsin in
                   Madison.

                   Their report in the latest issue of the journal Nature
                   Neuroscience says they have discovered that
                   expectations can influence our brain to such a degree
                   that it overrides reality and actually modifies our
                   interpretation of events as they happen.

                   "This topic is of great interest to eye-witness
testimony
                   theory," explains Pawan Sinha, a professor of
                   psychology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison,
                   "because our study shows that there may be difficulty
                   in distinguishing between what we expect and what
                   really is happening right at that moment."

                   That memories become fuzzy and distorted according to
                   likes and dislikes is already well known. But if the
brain
                   distorts an event as we are watching it, then the
                   memories generated from that event are likely to be even
                   more unreliable.

                   It has been thought that when an event is witnessed, it
                   is recorded by vision and then processed and analyzed
                   in the brain. With time, expectations color the events
                   seen. However, this study shows that as the brain is
                   processing and analyzing an ongoing event, there is a
                   feedback mechanism from the brain that distorts the
                   reality as it happens.

                   Sinha and his colleagues, Heinrich and Isabelle
                   Buelthoff at Max Plank, stumbled upon this find as they
                   were attempting to better understand how the brain
                   recognizes 3-dimensional objects that are in motion.

                   Subjects watched a series of movies called biological
                   motion movies, which portrayed a person walking. The
                   person is not shown, however. Instead, participants
                   viewed points of light at each joint and limb that
                   represented the moving form. Even though the
                   researchers distorted these images greatly, subjects had
                   no problem identifying the figures.

                   "Not just that," says Sinha, "but they were unable to
                   detect there were distortions."

                   The study is another in a growing body of evidence that
                   suggests the supposed hierarchy of going from images
                   to recognition is not true, according to Tomaso Poggio,
                   a professor at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab and
Brain
                   Science departments.

                   "Recognition, in some cases, can actually precede and
                   influence visual processes," Poggio explains, "and this
                   approach is important in developing better artificial
                   intelligence systems, such as an ATM recognizing your
                   face."

                   By Barbie Bischof, Discovery Channel News
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          BNN's favorite quotes:

                   "expectations can influence our brain to such a degree
                   that it overrides reality and actually modifies our
                   interpretation of events as they happen."

                   "because our study shows that there may be difficulty
                   in distinguishing between what we expect and what
                   really is happening right at that moment."

                   "But if the brain
                   distorts an event as we are watching it, then the
                   memories generated from that event are likely to be even
                   more unreliable."

                   "However, this study shows that as the brain is
                   processing and analyzing an ongoing event, there is a
                   feedback mechanism from the brain that distorts the
                   reality as it happens."
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Am I thinking up the need for a colonoscopy? For those who know I have
been quiet due to health concerns, I have had some rear end problems and
heavy pain that Prep H has not solved. My doctor thought it might be H
and/or a lesion. Since my brother died from colon cancer at about my age
(55)and since some of the symptoms would not come just from H, they have to
take a look. Yuk!

I'm thinking up the "photos" show no problems. Not sure that will work
without a miracle, but we'll see early in November.

[From Tim Carey (981012.0550)

[From Kenny Kitzke 11.8.98 900 CDT]

take a look. Yuk!

Yuk is right!! You're in my thoughts Kenny. I really hope everything works
out well for you.

Regards,

Tim

[From Dick Robertson, 981012.0630CDT]

Kenneth J. Kitzke wrote:

[From Kenny Kitzke 11.8.98 900 CDT]

                   By Barbie Bischof, Discovery Channel News
>
Am I thinking up the need for a colonoscopy? For those who know I have
been quiet due to health concerns, I have had some rear end problems and
heavy pain that Prep H has not solved. My doctor thought it might be H
and/or a lesion. Since my brother died from colon cancer at about my age
(55)and since some of the symptoms would not come just from H, they have to
take a look. Yuk!

I'm thinking up the "photos" show no problems. Not sure that will work
without a miracle, but we'll see early in November.

Kenney, Good luck with the outcome. I have heard of those meditation
programs that used
envisioning the desired results, and that they often get improved
control over physical processes
like immune system functions. A lot of us are pulling for you.

Best, Dick R.

[from Jeff Vancouver 981012.1300 EST]

[From Kenny Kitzke 11.8.98 900 CDT]

I'm thinking up the "photos" show no problems. Not sure that will work
without a miracle, but we'll see early in November.

May are your perceptions be under control!

Sincerely,

Jeff