Don’t stare at this picture too long if you get dizzy easily!
Rotating Snakes (click link for full image) by professor of psychology Akiyoshi Kitaoka, who is famous for designing optical illusions in which static images appear to move. This picture isn’t actually moving – it just seems to move because of the way your brain interprets the image.

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HI Y’ALL!  *waves*

Long time no see.  I promise I haven’t been lazy and have actually been busy.  *shifty eyes*

Ahem.  So.  I have a couple psych classes that I’m taking, and lately they’ve been focusing a lot on Sensation and Perception.  Fun stuff, I tell ya.  I thought it’d be pretty cool to share with the GBD community just exactly what they’re brainwashing kids these days with at the jail cell we call school.

I’m not gonna mention much about sensation except that in class, when we were talking about the gustation sense (taste sense), we tested out this nifty little tea, usually suggested to diabetics, that totally boggled my mind.

Its called Gymnema sylvestre, an herb found in some tropical places in India, that reduces blood sugar levels.  Not only that!  It also, supposedly, blocks the receptors on your tongue for sugar! (At least for 15 minutes or so.)  First we ate some sugar cane, then a sour patch kid, and then some chocolate.  YUM.  But after the tea…..EWWIUUUKK.  The sugar tasted like sand, the sour patch kids tasted like gooey salt, and the chocolate tasted like bitter cardboard. >_>  If that doesn’t ruin your sweet tooth, I dunno what does.

What does me gagging at delicious candy have to do with psychology and perception?  Well one thing is, we experience the world through our senses, so what we see, feel, eat, smell, all affect the way we think because they’re the tools we use to perceive the world and make of it what we will.

Now for perception!  This one, Imma leave you guys with something to munch over first, before we go on to the topic.

Here is a video showing an awareness test (erhh sort of, it was used as a commercial, but hey!  It works!).  Watch it a couple times and count how many times the white team passes the ball.  Stay focused!  They pass the ball pretty quickly.

I’ll come back later and post the rest of the test.  Remember!  NO CHEATING! >=|

-Binks

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”  - Sir John Lubbock

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On an extra note: In case you guys didn’t know. Today, Nov. 13, is “To Write Love on Her Arms” day.  Their mission statement is: “To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.  TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.”

There was a newsletter a while back ago deal with some heavy topics, so I think now its a good time to re-visit it. Here is the link specifically for the TWLOHA piece, or visit twloha.com for more information. (For the other newsletter articles go Here and Here)

All you have to do is write “Love” on your arm to show your support and even take a pic if you want! Post it on facebook, myspace, twitter. Wherever you want! Just help spread the word! In faacttt….Why don’t you guys send in a pic your freshly inked arm (and by ink I mean sharpie or pen…not tattoo please, I’m too young for jail. O_o) to bianca@girlsbydesign.com and we’ll post them here!

Thanks guys! Don’t forget!