The SPARK Collection at Penn State York
We are creating an area in the library for our new SPARK Collection, where you will find books, articles, movies, and displays to spark your curiosity and help you find ideas and topics for your assignments.
We’re working on a virtual SPARK Collection, so please check it out!
The Cocktail Party Effect
“How Selective Hearing Works in the Brain: ‘Cocktail Party Effect’ Explained”
How are we able to tune into one voice in a large crowd, while tuning out all the other background noise?
A similar effect is the ability in the same situation to shift your attention to another conversation in the room when you hear your own name mentioned. You can read more about that in this journal article: “The Cocktail Party Phenomenon Revisited: How Frequent Are Attention Shifts to One’s Name in an Irrelevant Auditory Channel?”
The Math of Spot It!
“The Mind-Bending Math Behind Spot It!, the Beloved Family Card Game”
55 cards, 8 symbols on each card, 57 different symbols
Every time I play this game I wonder, how is it possible that every card has a symbol that matches a only a single symbol on another card? If you think there has to be some mathematics behind the scenes of this simple game, you would be right, and it goes back to logic puzzles of 19th century mathematicians.
The answer lies in finite geometry.
