One thing that we learned about thus far is perception and a touch of memory. We have discussed the ways in which we perceive our world around us and the actions we take in relation to these perceptions. We also have learned that different parts of the brain are in charge of completing certain tasks, and somehow they all relate and connect to each other. In terms of memory, we learned the part of the brain in which memory forms, and how it relates to our perceptions. One example that sparked in my mind was the Mandela Effect. I’ve heard about it numerous times, but never really learned what causes it. In reading about perception and memory, it got me thinking, “Is this an issue related to memory, perception or both?” I found an article that assisted in gaining answers to these questions.

The Mandela effect is a topic that has been around for quite some time. In fact, it is titled after Nelson Mandela because many people have a memory of him dying in prison. This is not the case because Nelson Mandela served his time and was later released. He did not pass away until 2013(Brain & Spine, 2022). How, do multiple people possibly make this same mistake of remembering Nelson Mandela passing away in prison? This is not the only example. This also occurs often with brand logos and names. How can this be?

While the Nelson Mandela example is the beginning of this phenomena, it certainly is not the most famous example. As mentioned, this occurs with brand’s names and logos. For example, the famous children’s book: The Berenstain Bears. Which is most often remembered as being spelled: “Bernstein Bears”.

Another example is the Monopoly Man. More often than not, when visualizing the Monopoly Man, we picture him wearing a monocle. However, the Monopoly Man does not wear a monocle on any of the Monopoly logos throughout the years.

Why is this? Why is it that we visually perceive these things differently than they actually are? On coming across an article I found out some of the reasons behind this occurrence. In the article: “What is the ‘Mandela Effect’?”, it describes this phenomenon as a memory related issue. So, instead of perceiving these logos mistakenly, it is a matter of remembering them incorrectly. How this occurs according to the article, is that while the brain is going through the process of storing information into memory, there are oftentimes interferences that can affect the way that this information is remembered. In addition to this, memories that already exist can change as well due to certain influences (Brain & Spine, 2022). This is why it is crucial for eyewitnesses of a crime be separated from each other and have their story recalled as soon as possible. In addition to this, when they are questioned by authorities it is  crucial for the witnesses to be asked open-ended questions so as not to mislead them and influence their memory. If they are asked leading questions then this can impact their memory in favor of what is being influenced in the question.

To relate this back to the Mandela Effect, these scenarios occur while remembering these logos and/or slogans. Since this effect is so famous, it can influence a person’s memory on a topic simply by learning about this phenomenon. Reading about how the Monopoly Man actually has no monocle while most people think he does, can cause the reader to recall him wearing a monocle because the idea is now in their head and influencing their own memory. In addition to this, the article mentions how if there is ambiguity in a memory that someone has, it is easily influenced by outside information, or internal opinions and biases. If a piece of information is missing from a topic, then it is easy for that missing piece to become a false memory so that the brain has a way to close that gap (Brain & Spine, 2022).

In many scenarios, not just this one, it is interesting to learn the process that occurs between perceiving something and that message arriving to the brain. As you can see, there are influences that can occur to obstruct or interrupt a piece of information and this can affect the way it is remembered or thought of. While this is a famous example of this occurrence, it is definitely not the only example of what happens to a memory before, during and after being stored. Now, in looking back on my original questions, I know that this effect is mainly due to memory and the deficits that can impact those memories.

Works Cited:

Brain&Spine. (2022, May 31). The Mandela effect and false memories. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved January 31, 2023, from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/mandela-effect/

If the thought of looking at over half a million pictures in just an afternoon sounds impossible or stressful, it was neither for me the other weekend. In just three hours and twelve minutes I viewed 552,960 pictures, however that’s not how my brain perceived this task. The concept of gestalt psychology has been summed up as “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” In 1911 a German psychologist, Max Wertheimer, witnessed that two similar pictures in rapid succession could create perceived motion to the brain, this effect is called apparent movement (Goldstein, 2018). Some people might have seen the new Avatar movie, way of water. This move is, as you might have guessed, three hours and twelve minutes long. Though gestalt psychology has had its spot light, the concept of contemporary film psychology still uses this practice in the art form (Poulaki, 2018). Movies are made up of the layering of multiple different components in the final stages of making a movie, the editing process. The layers of a film could be broken down into the visual or audio sides.

Visually, like mentioned above, movies are just the rapid succession of pictures, known as frames. The visual process of movies could be broken down into what filmed on set and what’s later overlapped through CGI, computer generated images. These two layers are added together in the editing process to create a the visual part. A film is, on average, shot at 24 frames per second. When the frames are played at a speed this fast, the human brain cannot identify the rapid changing of pictures and it creates apparent movement. Avatar was shot at 48 frames per second lasting three hours and twelve minutes, that comes to a total of 552,960 pictures that the human eyes and brain are trying to comprehend.

The audio process is also made up of multiple layers, from the dialogue of the actors, the musical score, and the sound effects. Actors are recorded on set and sometimes the audio line are recorded in a studio, these layers are added to create the dialogue that’s heard in a movie. Then there is also the musical score that’s added to draw the listener into a feeling, drum up suspense, or dramatize the scene. The sound effects are another interesting layer added to a film. This can be called folly work, but it’s a field that creates a false narrative from how the sounds are made. The sound effect of an arm breaking could be the artist wringing celery stick to create a false snapping and crunching sound of bones, the sound of glass breaking can be falsified by keys thrown into a mug with cellophane stretched across the top. However, when these noises are added to the visual scene, our brain correlates what we are seeing and what the sound should be with what we think we must be hearing.

If we just were given any of these individual layers that make up a movie, we probably would have no clue what was going on. But once these layers are added to each other they complete what we think we are experiencing. The way the mind connected the movement of rapid pictures is perceived as a fluid motion creating the visual sensation of motion. This compiled with the different layers of audio, the speech, score, sound effects; are the parts that make up a movie. But once they are all put together; a movie becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Goldstein, E. B. (2018). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (5th ed.). Cengage Learning US. https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781337670432

Poulaki, M. (2018). The ‘good form’ of film. Gestalt Theory, 40(1), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2018-0004

Choosing to major in psychology was somewhat easy for me because I always found it fascinating.  The added bonus that came with the choice was feeling as though I have a better understanding of myself, and those around me. This comes into play most often with my son. Throughout my education, I have read about numerous topics that hit especially close to home. And so far, this semester is no different. Prosopagnosia was very interesting to read about in our course material and searching the topic online lead to a whole slew of articles. However, it wasn’t until I read a Healthline.com article, that I thought about how prosopagnosia affects children. More specifically, how the signs and symptoms of face blindness look in children.

Prosopagnosia is said to affect about 2% of the population and is most directly linked to damage in the occipital and temporal lobe. More specifically, the right fusiform gyrus, which is an area responsible for coordinating neural systems that affect facial memory and perception (Gotter, 2017). Many articles attribute the cause of this condition to brain damage/injury and strokes, but some mention a possible genetic link.

Up until this point, I had only heard of this in relation to stroke victims or people who have experienced an injury to the brain. Then I took an online test (Exposure Based Face Memory Test) and read a list of possible behaviors children with prosopagnosia may display and thought about how difficult this disorder would be to diagnose in someone who hasn’t suffered a stroke or brain injury. Of course, I know that taking any kind of “on-line” test is not accurate and I will not be taking my results to my doctor to demand more testing. However, the test itself, and the noticeable methods used to test/trick the user, got me thinking about how easy it is to fail to recognize a familiar face.

The way our brain perceives lights and shadows, mixed with a person’s ability to style their hair differently and alter their facial structures with makeup, all make it difficult to confidently say whether or not we immediately recognize a face. Now factor in a child, who by nature, may lack the ability to accurately describe what they are seeing in the first place, or even focus on details, and try to diagnose them with face blindless. Of course, I understand that all children are not the same, but if I task my own child with this test, he will probably fail miserably. So how do children display symptoms of this disorder then? According to an article in Healthline.com, some characteristics can include being clingy or withdrawn in public places, difficulty in following plots of characters in movies or TV shows, having problems making friends and seeming withdrawn at school. To me, these symptoms seem extremely common and cause me to wonder if this disorder is something that affects a lot of children, and subsequently, if this is something that they can “grow out of”. Is this a possible side effect of a growing/developing brain?

It goes without saying that I only have a cursory understanding of the human brain, and someone with a more in-depth understanding would not come to the conclusion that I did. With that being said, the idea of learning more about how our brains function, and how those functions change and advance as we develop, is extremely fascinating to me. And I look forward to reading future articles about such topics. Especially as they relate to the brain of a growing child.

References

Andy Calder, Gillian Rhodes, Mark Johnson, and Jim Haxby (editors). “Oxford handbook of face perception”. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Goldstein, E.B. (2019).  Cognitive Psychology Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience 5E. Cengage.

Gotter, Anna. “Face Blindness (Prosopagnosia).” Healthline.com, 22 Aug. 2017, https://www.healthline.com/health/face-blindness

     The rate at which technology is improving and advancing is rapidly increasing. This was one realization I took away from Chapter 3 of our textbook (Goldstein, 2018). Specifically, this was evident while reading about ‘computer-vision’ and its implementation in modern-day science and technology. In the textbook, an example of computer-vision in the real world given is “Uber vehicles are finding their way around the winding streets of Pittsburgh, San Fransisco, and other cities” (Goldstein, 2018). This sparked a memory of a video I saw not too long ago on TikTok about a driverless taxi. I thought this would be a great example to solidify the concept of computer-vision and what it may be lacking compared to humans’ vision and perception. 

     To begin, the TikTok video published by the user @sosobombs involves a woman and her friend sitting in the back of a driverless taxi while it attempts to find a safe spot to pull over in front of their destination (sosobombs, 2022). The beginning of the video shows the woman pressing the help button because the vehicle appeared to be ‘stuck’. They were located on a busy roadway, with cars honking behind them, patiently waiting for the car to pull over on the right-hand side. A representative soon answered the call for help, and they quickly explained how the car was at a complete stop and having trouble trying to find a spot to pull over. Not too long after, the vehicle started moving again and was able to pull over and let the passengers out. The representative explained to the women that the vehicle was probably trying to determine the safest location to pull over since safety is their top priority. 

     I think this real-life scenario illustrates the idea of ‘computer-vision’ and how it intersects with human perception. In the video, the vehicle being ‘stuck’ trying to pull over represents what is missing from computer-vision that we humans can do in seconds. When we drive, we are able to accurately assess the dangers on the road and what to avoid. In terms of parking, we can easily recognize if there is enough room, no pedestrians, no cars in the way, how close the car is to the curb/other cars, etc. With computer-vision, it takes multiple times as long to process and make a decision about the environment around us and what is safe vs unsafe. As the textbook states, “as impressive as driverless cars are, computer-vision still makes mistakes in naming objects” (Goldstein, 2018). This example is similar to the example provided in the textbook about planes and humans, where the computer was unable to recognize the scene as an air show. Lastly, objects can be hidden or blurred from our sight, but we are able to use our perception to identify certain people, places, objects, etc. Compared to humans, driverless taxis do not have the full ability to notice a possible danger that is partially hidden behind something else. 

     This TikTok video of a woman in a driverless taxi demonstrates the idea of computer-vision and its flaws. It connects to the idea that humans are able to recognize certain things while driving to avoid hazards and ensure safe driving, while a driverless taxi may not, or at least not have the same level of accuracy. Overall, this example shows how while we try our best to create computer systems that mimic the vision and perception that we humans have, it does not (and may never) have the capability to perceive the world as we do. 

References:

@sosobombs. (2021, December 1). It happens- the driverless taxi was taking a time out while it                      figured out where to pull over and the car behind us honked at it. [Video]. TikTok.                               https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRsmgVM5/

Goldstein, E. Bruce. Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience.                     Cengage, 2021.

Having to witness Parkinson’s Disease slowly deteriorate someone within your family circle is a painful experience. It gradually robs them of their motor skills, intellect, and specifically their perception. Perception being defined as experiences by the means of the senses, and a large part of it comes from two processes—bottom-up processing, which is the flow of information to the brain, and top-down processing, which is information that stems from one’s knowledge and personal experiences. By looking back through the lens of this course, this disease along with visual hallucinations compromises their perception of their environment by decreasing their bottom-up processing and increasing their top-down processing.

Because the individual’s bottom-up processing is compromised due to the disease, they often have difficulty in accurately perceiving the environment. Parkinson’s causes the individual to experience visual impairment such as retinal dysfunction such as contrast sensitivity and color vision deficits (Weil et al., 2016). This worsens their ability to spot everyday objects such as a white plate on a white table, which leads to them being mainly motionless and unresponsive. Thus, because of the inadequate flow of the information travelling to their brain due to retinal deficits from the disease, the individual’s perception of the environment was impaired.

The temporary visual hallucinations along with the disease that the individual experiences increase their top-down processing with illusions, causing errors in their perception of the environment. The minds of people with Parkinson’s and visual hallucinations tend to wander much more, resulting in increased interactions between the primary visual cortex and the dorsal cortex (Thomas et al., 2022). In addition, the hippocampus, the temporal lobes, and the thalamus are compromised due to a reduction of white matter—areas of the central nervous system—as well as brain lesions, which creates visual hallucinations (Thomas et al., 2022). This means that there is an increase in the top-down processing as well as their reliance on it despite its inaccuracy. There were several instances where the individual would misperceive the environment and react by running away or leaving the house. For example, I remember when there was water spilling underneath the sink and unto the floor because it was broken, and the individual became frightened because they thought there was a flood and claimed that we would drown. For that reason, there is an increase in the individual’s top-down processing when they fall victim to Parkinson’s Disease along with visual hallucinations.

From a cognitive psychological viewpoint of Parkinson’s Disease including visual hallucinations, the bottom-up processing shows a decrease while the top-down processing shows an increase as their perception of their environment gradually declines. First, the bottom-up processing decreases as the disease impairs vision which affects their retina, color vision, and contrast sensitivity. Also, the top-down processing increases from visual hallucinations due to increased connectivity between the visual and dorsal cortexes as well as the degenerative nerve cells in the regions of the hippocampus, temporal lobes, and the thalamus. By becoming more educated and drawing personal connections to the text, it draws greater attention to the complexity of mankind and a call to action to help others who may be suffering from this debilitating disease.

Words Cited

Thomas, G. E., Zeidman, P., Sultana, T., Zarkali, A., Razi, A., & Weil, R. S. (2022). Changes in both top-down and bottom-up effective connectivity drive visual hallucinations in parkinson’s disease. Brain Communications, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcac329

Weil, R. S., Schrag, A. E., Warren, J. D., Crutch, S. J., Lees, A. J., & Morris, H. R. (2016, November 1). Visual dysfunction in parkinson’s disease. Brain : a journal of neurology. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5091042/

As we’ve been discussing the anatomy of the brain, I often think of the experience that my childhood best friend went through during our senior year of high school. We were inseparable in the months leading up to the pandemic, showing up to school late every day together. I would pick her up, since her car would always be breaking down. One morning she got in my car and broke the news to me that her concussion wasn’t a matter of going to Physical Therapy anymore. Doctors noticed a malformation at the base of her brain. We mispronounced the name for days before we confided in our anatomy teacher, to which she gently corrected us. 

“Girls… it’s not something to be scared about. But it’s also not pronounced key-air-ee. It’s key-are-ee malformation.” 

My friend had gotten concussed at work, and after two months of a mild concussion not subsiding in symptoms, the scans they brought back revealed that her cerebellum was leaking into the spinal cavity right under her brain. Chiari Malformation. It was so scary to a couple of 18-year-old girls who were already convinced they had the worst luck in the world. 

However, her diagnosis (type 1) was common and treated surgically (Anderson). The doctors had decided to run a scan after she began describing persistent concussion symptoms weeks after hitting her head. There have been studies on the idea that CM-1 patients are more susceptible to post-concussion syndrome. Aside from telling her doctors that she was falling asleep, feeling light-headed, and forgetful often, she also described to her doctors that she was having coordination troubles. She began dropping things, walking into things, and stuttering more often. She had trouble typing on a keyboard. All of these skills can be correlated back to the cerebellum of the brain (Healthline, E. Goldstein)

Her surgery, though, was more complicated than we expected it to be. She was diagnosed in late January of 2020, and wasn’t surgically treated until August 2020. This meant that she had to live with the symptoms for 8 months and recover alone without visitors. She put off going to university in Florida, and her recovery was extremely difficult. A Chiari Malformation can place extreme pressure on the Dura, which is a connective tissue layer meant to protect both the brain and spinal cord (Kekere, Alsayouri). 

Her doctor explained to her that after going months without treatment, it seemed like the pressure was building up. He had been in his practice for over two decades, and he explained to her that he had never seen a dura stretched so thin without tearing. Of course, she felt the need to ask what would’ve happened, and was horrified to find out that a dural tear going unnoticed could cause a stroke. I made sure she didn’t do any further research on the possibility of that. But when I researched it, of course, it was true. A dural tear could cause cerebrospinal fluid to leak into your spinal cavity, and this could cause very severe and fatal consequences (Cleveland Clinic). 

Whenever I learn about the brain and its connectedness, I think about how we knew something was wrong with my best friend just from her coordination and memory. She hit her head on a shelf at work, was diagnosed with a mild concussion, but soon her abilities became noticeably hindered. My best friend, Savanna, went on to study psychology after I sparked her interest in it, and we both refer to her experience as one of the best examples of our brain’s neuronal connectivity to our coordination. We don’t know many people who have witnessed a change so up-close and first hand, and we both use it to further our fascination with the brain. 

Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Leak: Symptoms & Treatment (clevelandclinic.org)

Anatomy, Head and Neck, Dura Mater – StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)

Cerebellum Facts, Function, Location, and Disorders (healthline.com)

Is Having a Chiari Malformation Life Threatening? Stages (emedicinehealth.com)

Can Chiari Malformation Get Worse? (neurosurgeonsofnewjersey.com)

What is PCS? | Concussion Legacy Foundation (concussionfoundation.org)

Personal discussion with Savanna Goodwin (CM-1 patient)

Imagine a dark skin little girl who had to grow up in a world that saw her and others with her skin complexion as disgusting creatures. Imagine that the same little dark skin girl was forced to attend predominately Caucasian schools where all she heard was that she was too dark and ugly and resembled a hyena. Then that same dark skin little girl had to go home after hearing all this in school to hear her mom say the same thing that she was too dark and that she was getting too dark. Now picture yourself as that little dark skin girl and ask yourself, is my perception skewed?

Growing up, I was bullied for being a dark skin with dark eyelids. Kids and teachers used to call me hyena, and what made matters worse was that my name was Hyhisha, so when I would report what was happening to other teachers, they would shrug it off and say that they probably made a mistake. My entire adolescent to adult life, I was bullied sometimes to the point that I was physically assaulted and others like me just because they could. This experience led me to utilize top-down processing when interpreting someone’s intentions and aided in my believing that I was ugly inside and out, resulting in my skin bleaching, eluding people and mirrors, and self-harming.

Top-down processing is using one’s experiences to help interpret things. When people are being bullied, the victims begin using top-down processing to help them avoid other bullies and people in general. Due to being bullied, and for as long as I have been bullied, I am always using top-down processing when I am around new people and even family members I barely remember. Now let’s answer the question from earlier, is my perception skewed? Skewed is defined as being changed from an actual value. Whereas perception is defined as the interpretation of information from one’s experiences, so to answer the question, my perception of myself is not skewed. The reason I do not believe my perception of myself is not skewed is that I was never taught what it was to value myself, have self-esteem, and my self-image was beyond repair that nothing anyone told me I would have believed. Due to my lack of knowledge of myself, I did not know my value, and in turn, my experiences led to a harsh self-interpretation.

In reference to lesson 3, there are many events that are examples of the Gestalt Laws of Perception. This concept generalizes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; and the mind uses the image gathered through the eye of all of the different aspects of something and puts it together to create one appealing picture. For example, my aunt, who is a graphic designer and helps create websites and marketing tools for many businesses, explained that the Gestalt principles are very important in her career and the careers of most visual designers. In this blog post, I will explain an event that occurred while my aunt was designing the website for a local floral shop and how the Principles of Perception aided in her work. 

First of all, the Gestalt principles come into play in multiple ways in terms of visual arts. According to a post by Simone Timmers on Many Pixels Blog, there are 7 commonly known aspects of Gestalt that get put to use. These include closure, common fate, continuation, similarity, figure ground, proximity, and similarity. All of these techniques are combined when creating visual projects so that our brains take complex visuals and put the parts together to simplify them. In designing the website used for the florist, my aunt brought these concepts to life, making a page that is easy to use and appeals to shoppers. She laid the site out with each main piece of information easily accessible and welcoming. 

Secondly, the Gestalt Principles of Perception help the floral website gain success because it was designed to catch the reader’s attention. When opening the website, all of the information is openly available, yet it is not confusing or congested because the general necessary information is perceived in an organized strategic way. The main points that needed to be included were images of the shop and the merchandise, location, contact information, order requests, and inventory. With the inclusion of links and well placed headers and text boxes, reader’s can see each little component and perceive it as one whole (the floral shop).

In conclusion, the Gestalt Principles of Perception are present in everyday life and there are many examples of events that can be linked back to the concept. It is very common for the Gestalt Principles to be a major factor in visual design projects, especially ones like the website my aunt created. Taking each little piece of a bigger whole and organizing them in such a way that it appeals to the reader, uses the laws of perception and forces the mind to see it as one bigger concept. 

Sources:

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/gestalt-principles

https://www.manypixels.co/blog/post/gestalt-principles-in-graphic-design

When I walked into the room, the first thing they did was hand me ear plugs. I wondered why I would need them to get an MRI done. I had never had one before, I wasn’t sure what I was walking into. I put them in my ears, and they had me lay on the table with my head in this contraption that looks like it could have been used in a horror movie. They put the little box, or more like a cage, together and told me not to move. The machine was cylindrical, once I was inside, the noises began, I now understood the reason for the ear plugs. I wondered what this imaging could provide them that something else, something quieter, couldn’t. I didn’t understand the importance of the MRI.

MRI’s, and fMRI’s, are used to create detailed maps of the brain. They’re used to locate tumors, inflammation, and blood supply. This can be used to diagnose a multitude of conditions including a stroke, epilepsy, seizures, or a blood clot. Now, why is this important in the world of psychology you may ask? Let’s look at brain growth and development during childhood and adolescence. Because MRI’s and fMRI’s are not invasive, they allow us to examine developmental changes in the brain that are related to behavior. They also allow us to observe how brain changes associated with chronic illnesses develop over time.

Being able to see how different areas of the brain connect and communicate with one another is such a useful tool. Scientists are now able to explore how things like PTSD, phobias, and panic disorders affect different areas of the brain. Scientists are learning that sometimes it isn’t just one area of the brain that is affected, but a web of interconnected neural connections.

It wasn’t long ago that doctors had to wait to do an autopsy to examine the brain. We’ve come a long way in our journey, but there is still a lot to learn and a lot to be developed in terms of technology to do so. I think it’s important that we continue to develop technology and research methods to help us learn more about the brain. While there is such an importance to the use of MRI’s and fMRI’s, I can’t wait to see what the next big thing is!

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/22966-brain-mri

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4884902/

https://www.apa.org/topics/neuropsychology/brain-form-function