Use Your Illusion – Your Brain Does!

Well, here is a satiating video on our consciousness, which explains, not only “An Illusion of Sound” but how our brains actively work to fool us, even as they try to figure out our surroundings. Dan Dennett, a compelling and erudite speaker, combines the best of the worlds of philosophy and neurology, to explain how we inadvertently try to fit disparate elements to uncover (or create) patterns. The video was featured on TED [link], a site compiling a series of talks by the brightest minds on all fields, which take place in Monterey, California. This is internet education at its best! Enjoy. For those of you, who wonder what “An Illusion of Sound” is, click here.

Speedgrapher

An Illusion of Sound

OK, now when ergoproxy told me that he had found a video of an audio illusion, I found myself weirded into silence. You know, “video is seeing as audio is hearing”. However, he HAS told me of more improbable things, so I checked it out. Turns out that the video part is just a black screen and of course, the audio is the gist of it. For the experience to be successful, we must set some things straight first: I cannot tell you how this works because it will probably make you so attentive that the illusion will fail (ergoproxy had explained a bit of it to me and my being a physicist, the illusion worked only the 3rd time I tried it).

Secondly, you have to do it right; let the video load completely before you play it. After it has loaded, try to relax and clear your head (better avoid a distracting environment, i.e. noises, people talking etc.). Then play the video and just listen to the sounds. After it ends, quickly press the replay button and keep listening. Repeat a third time. You should notice the pitch of the sounds increasing continuously. After you have done that, let your ears (and mind) rest for a while. Then, listen to the audio again but this time around, include roughly 1 minute intervals between hearings. Do you notice anything different? [Leave your comments if you like and in approximately 4-5 days, we will post a new text which explains the effect, as well as a video elaborating on the causes, well beyond our meager knowledge].


Speedgrapher