Mind Hacks™: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain (54 page)
Read Mind Hacks™: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain Online
Authors: Tom Stafford,Matt Webb
Tags: #COMPUTERS / Social Aspects / Human-Computer Interaction
How It Works
How It Works
How It Works
How It Works
Behind the Eyes
Enter the Visual Cortex
Enter the Visual Cortex
How It Works
feedforward and,
Three Kinds of Motor Controlobject animacy and,
How It WorksPulfrich Effect and,
In Real Lifevestibular system and,
In Action
Enter the Visual Cortex
Integrating: Hacks 53–61
,
Put Timing Information into Sound and Location Information into Light
In Action
In Real Life
In Action
crossed hands and,
In Actionfundamental of sound wave and,
End Notes
How It Works
(see also peripheral vision; visual processing; visual system)body schema and,
End Notesconstraints in,
Seeing: Hacks 13–33feeling more and,
How It Workshearing with eyes,
How It Workslocation and,
How It Workslocation information and,
Integrating: Hacks 53–61neuron atrophy and,
Neuropsychology, the 10% Myth, and Why You Use All of Your Brainas postdictive,
How It Worksprocessing,
How It Worksproprioceptive information and,
In Actionthrown voices and,
Pay Attention to Thrown Voicesvisual processing,
Inside the Brain: Hacks 1–12
hemispheres and,
Use Your Right Brain — and Your Left, Toomotion and depth,
How It Worksmovement and,
End Notesneuron speed in,
In Real Lifeoccipital lobe and,
Tour the Cortex and the Four Lobesoptic chiasm and,
Understand Visual Processingoptic lobe and,
In Actionparvocellular pathway,
End Notesprocessing and,
How It Worksretina and,
Cerebral Lobessignals and,
In Actiontouch and,
How It Works
How It Works
(see also vision; visual system)dizziness and,
In Actiondual-stream theory of,
Part 2gestalt principles and,
How It Worksgrabbing attention and,
How It Worksobject tracking,
In Actionoverview,
Seeing: Hacks 13–33right hemisphere and,
How It Worksseeing people,
See a Person in Moving Lightsshadows and,
Fool Yourself into Seeing 3Dsound and,
Hearing and Language: Hacks 44–52tricking the mind,
End Notes
In Action
How It Works
illusionary depth and,
In Real Lifeinferring motion,
Objects Move, Lighting Shouldn’toverview,
Understand Visual Processingsaccadic suppression and,
In Actionsubliminal perception and,
In Real Life
Think Yourself Strong
How It Works
Attention: Hacks 34–43
Think About Frequencies Rather than Probabilities
How It Works
In Action
Navigate Your Way Through Memory
How It Works
Neuropsychology, the 10% Myth, and Why You Use All of Your Brain
How It Works
Tour the Cortex and the Four Lobes
Get Acquainted with the Central Nervous System
How It Works
directions and,
How It Worksexemplar activation and,
How It Worksexpressiveness of,
Mimicrystrokes and,
Speech Is Broadband Input to Your Head
critical lure,
In Actionfluency and,
In Actionforgetting,
In Real Lifeleft hemisphere and,
How It Worksmeaning and,
In Actionmemory of,
In Actionmethod of loci and,
Navigate Your Way Through Memorymorphemes and,
Speech Is Broadband Input to Your Headonomatopoeic,
How It Worksphrases and,
End Notespriming and,
In Actionrecalling names and,
Boost Memory Using Contextstria terminalis and,
How It Works
Make Yourself Happy
Tom Stafford has a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and is currently a research associate in the Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield. He is also an associate editor of the Psychologist magazine and has previously worked as a freelance writer and researcher for the BBC.
Matt Webb's background is in new media. His freelance activities include an IM interface to Google, which predated the Google API and is included in O Reilly s Google Hacks. He launched a project to find the Web's favorite color that was featured on BBC News Online and national newspapers in the UK. His current job in R&D at the BBC involves these kinds of projects internally, and gives him experience at addressing abstract social and technological ideas to mixed audiences. He was a popular speaker at O Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference in 2004.
Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from
distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical
topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.
The tool on the cover of
Mind Hacks
is an incandescent light bulb.
While many assume that Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb in 1879, Edison’s actual
achievement was to advance the design of the light bulb from a patent he purchased in 1875
from Canadian inventors Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans. Edison’s improvement was to place a
carbon filament in a vacuum bulb, which then burned for 40 hours. An English chemist, Humphrey
Davy, invented the first electric light — an arc lamp — by connecting two wires to a battery and
attaching a strip of charcoal in the middle of the circuit. Other inventors continued to make
various incremental improvements in such areas as the filaments and the process for creating a
vacuum in the bulb, but in 1879, Edison developed a triple threat: a carbon filament, lower
voltage, and an improved vacuum in the bulb.
In 1882, Pearl Street Station, in New York City, was the first central
electricity-generating station constructed to support the light bulb invention. Although the
alternating-current method of generating electricity proposed by Nikola Tesla proved to be the
superior technical solution, Edison was engaged in a battle for control of America’s electric
infrastructure. Edison declared that his direct current system was safe and that alternating
current was a deadly menace, which he publicly demonstrated for years by using alternating
current to electrocute dogs and cats.
But in 1893, when alternating current was used at the Chicago World’s Fair to light
100,000 incandescent lightbulbs, the nearly 27 million people who attended the Columbian
Exposition saw the safe and impressive demonstration of that technology. The event signaled
the demise of direct current systems in the United States.
Sarah Sherman was the production editor and proofreader for
Mind
Hacks
, and Norma Emory was the copyeditor. Meghan Lydon provided production
assistance. Mary Anne Weeks Mayo and Emily Quill provided quality control. Lucie Haskins wrote
the index.
Hanna Dyer designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The
cover image is an original photograph. Clay Fernald produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress
4.1 using Adobe’s Helvetica Neue and ITC Garamond fonts.
David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Julie Hawks to
FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil
Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka;
the heading font is Adobe Helvetica Neue Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont’s TheSans
Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and
Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. This colophon was written
by Reg Aubry.
If you purchased this ebook from a retailer other than O’Reilly, you can upgrade it for $4.99 at oreilly.com by
clicking here
.
Rael Dornfest
Copyright © 2010 O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Mind Hacks™
by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb
All rights reserved.
Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA
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Editor: | Rael Dornfest |
Series Editor: | Rael Dornfest |
Executive Editor: | Dale Dougherty |
Production Editor: | Sarah Sherman |
Cover Designer: | Hanna Dyer |
Interior Designer: | David Futato |
Printing History:
November 2004: | First Edition. |
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While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and
authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the
use of the information contained herein.
The technologies discussed in this publication, the limitations on these technologies
that technology and content owners seek to impose, and the laws actually limiting the use of
these technologies are constantly changing. Thus, some of the hacks described in this
publication may not work, may cause unintended harm to systems on which they are used, or
may not be consistent with applicable user agreements. Your use of these hacks is at your
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