Ever wonder why time seems to slow down during moments of danger?
According to David Eagleman, a scientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston:
When a person is scared, a brain area called the amygdala becomes more active, laying down an extra set of memories that go along with those normally taken care of by other parts of the brain.
“In this way, frightening events are associated with richer and denser memories,” Eagleman explained. “And the more memory you have of an event, the longer you believe it took.”
Eagleman added this illusion “is related to the phenomenon that time seems to speed up as you grow older. When you’re a child, you lay down rich memories for all your experiences; when you’re older, you’ve seen it all before and lay down fewer memories. Therefore, when a child looks back at the end of a summer, it seems to have lasted forever; adults think it zoomed by.”
How did he test this theory?
Researchers dropped volunteers from great heights. Scientists had volunteers dive backward with no ropes attached, into a special net that helped break their fall. They reached 70 mph during the roughly three-second, 150-foot drop.
“It’s the scariest thing I have ever done,” said David. “I knew it was perfectly safe, and I also knew that it would be the perfect way to make people feel as though an event took much longer than it actually did.”
Indeed, volunteers estimated their own fall lasted about a third longer than dives they saw other volunteers take.
Now you know.
[LifeScience - Why Time Seems to Slow Down in Emergencies]
[Via: Neatorama]
[Photo Via: SoldiersMediaCenter]
Here’s a fun way to fool your eyes: In the picture below, how many circles do you see?
The correct answer is 16.
If you still can see them, stare at the “X” in the middle of the image until your eyes begin to lose focus, and the circles should appear.
[Via: Conflusions]
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Believe it or not, there’s a person hiding in this picture:
To see it, just take a step or two back from your computer.
[Via: Spluch]
Wow.
I’ve posted plenty of visual illusions, but never an audio one.
To take part, just listen to the following video. Then, when it’s done, replay the video to hear the sound continue to ‘creep-up’.
Weird.
[Via: The Presurfer]
Here’s a neat trick (Called an Afterimage Effect): Stare at the X for long enough, and the purple dots will disappear!
(Move your eyes slightly to bring them back.)
[Wikipedia - Afterimage]
[Via: Grand Illusions]
Here’s an elevator illusion reminiscent of Julian Beever‘s work. The sign warns users of the elevator that there is work in progress, and the floor has been painted to look like there is no floor all together. The effect makes for a great photo opportunity, though this elevator probably isn’t used too often by acrophobics.
Edit: Yes, I looked it up and there isn’t a phobia name for fear of elevators. It either falls under acrophobia (fear of heights) or claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces). Sadly, for those of you who are afraid of elevators, you suffer alone in the unnamed phobia world (I suggest elevatophobia, so if any scientists want to give me some credit, just shoot me an email, I’ll gladly respond).
[Elevator Floor Illusion]
[Via: Digg]
