The Bicycle Animation

from youtube

This is a piece created to question whether it was possible to film animation in realtime. Part of my CSM 3rd year disseration project I was looking at proto animation (really early basic animation) in contemporary design. I've taken a lot of influence from other contemporary designers who are using these techniques to explore the way we look at animation and how its made. As stated on my channel I have interviewed animators such as Jim le Fevre and in my research referenced other people using this technique such as David Wilson and Tim Wheatley who did this before me. I developed this project based on what is being done in animation right now as well as a lot of primary research into the history of animation techniques.

Big Thanks to my friend Stefan Neidermeyer who did the sound. The soundtrack is made up of various bike noies recorded during the filming process which Stef then remixed to make the amazing soundtrack.

What's He Saying? 'Bahh' Or 'Fahh'? A Brain Mystery

from NPR
by ROBERT KRULWICH

I love illusions, where your brain makes weird things happen. Those of you who come here often have seen some doozies, but this one ... oooh, this is one of the strangest.

The question is: Which is more powerful, your eyes or your ears? Watch this clip and experience "The McGurk Effect." Your ears will feel ashamed.

The McGurk Effect is named for a psychologist from Scotland, Harry McGurk, working with John MacDonald. The experiment shows that while our senses seem separate — you wouldn't think what you see should affect what you hear — it turns out, that's totally wrong. If our eyes see one thing and our ears hear a different thing, when sight and sound grapple in our brains, the eyes win. Eyes tell ears what to hear. Or so it seems.

Not only that, even if your brain knows this is an illusion, you still can't hear the truth unless you close your eyes. The illusion is that powerful.

Why Does This Happen?
Does sight always beat sound? Professor Lawrence Rosenblum in the video seems to suggest that experimental results may vary depending on which sense is "more salient." I'm not sure what that means. Nosing around, I found some experiments where you see lips saying "gah" while the sound is saying "bah" and my brain chooses neither of them, and settles for a middle-of-the-road "dah." But nowhere could I find an explanation for why my ears keep surrendering to my eyes.

Does anybody know?

---
reader's comments:
Travis Petersen (tpetersen) wrote:
A cognitive psychology take on the way illusions work is that all of one's perceptual representations are formed as a result of the brain sub-consciously applying biasing principles, which are developed through environmental conditioning, to basic stimuli, in order to render a representation of one's environment. When something that is foreign to one's environment is causing such stimulus, the biasing principles can be erroneously applied, resulting in an erroneous perceptual representation--an illusion. With that said, I believe that what he means by saying that vision is "more salient" is that it is the perceptual system that is providing greater amounts of more important information about one's environment than hearing, when both senses are being employed. Thus, the biasing principles that develop the perceptual representation favor the perceptual system that it "deems" (I use quotation marks because this is a passive process) the more important one, because the phenomenon at hand is one that is uncommon in one's environment. I think this take on illusions provides a pretty decent understanding of why this happens. A much more exhaustive account of it is available in Tyler Burge's book, Origins of Objectivity.
Fri Sep 23 2011 22:44:35 GMT+0200 (W. Europe Daylight Time)

Perception, Evolution and the Brain

Loved the first 3/4 of this talk...but why do we want/need brain 2.0? i dont get why what we have needs to be improved/changed? i wish more people could fall in love with everything we already have! Then maybe they would want to explore and protect the biodiversity and evolutionary heritage of our planet instead of trying to get more and more lost in our own little worlds...
PS: The tetrachromatism section was my favorite, here is another great article on it with lots of good links: Do women perceive color different than men? and for more optical illusions go to Optical Illusions powered by our evolution in a 3D world
-MA

From the youtube site:
David Eagleman, PhD, neuroscientist, Tom Slick Research Award in Consciousness recipient, and best-selling author of SUM: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, shared his thoughts on "The Future of Reality." Dr. Eagleman gave compelling examples of how reality is a matter of individual perception and how Nature's adaptions function as "plug ins" for the brain.

About TEDx, x=independently organized event - In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Thanks to Cleve H and Vanessa VD for the link

Optical Illusions powered by our evolution in a 3D world

i LOVE optical illusions - check out this gallery with explanations as to why our brain perceives as it does. Below - these two tables have the same dimensions, really! - MA



From Discover magazine via Neatorama

Neuroscientists usually explain color illusions in mechanistic terms: They arise because of the way cells in the retina and the brain respond to certain wavelengths of light. Those explanations miss the larger point, says Beau Lotto, a brain research at University College London. We misperceive colors and shapes because our visual sense has been molded by evolutionary history.

Go to the Discover magazine slideshow for more info on how are brain is tricked by optical illusions!