Mind's Eye; the Brain relies constantly on Visual Memories

To create a visual perception of the world, your brain ALWAYS relies as much on sight as memories.

Susan Greenfield: "Our brains are constantly distorting what we see. Using imagination, our brains take a bold shortcut; we guess what's out there from past experience rather to having to build up the image in our mind each time from scratch. [...] The brain doesn't just allow us to see what's out there, it actually invents much of it."

This concept explained and much more in the documentary series "Brain Story" (2000) by the extraordinary British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). http://www.bbc.co.uk

Full description of the original documentary series:
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/837632.stm

Official "brain story" book, companion to the series:
- http://www.amazon.com/BBC-Brain-Story-Unlocking-Emotions/dp/0789478390/ref=sr...

About the author, Susan Greenfield:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Greenfield
or
- http://www.sirc.org/about/susan_greenfield.html

the "whole brain atlas" online:
- http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• QuarksAreStrange
• Optical
• Illusion
• Brain
• Eyes
• Visual
• Memories
• Neurology
• BBC

[uzmynem]

What happens to someone that has impaired memory?

Would they see things a bit differently since they are using only their vision rather than vision and memory...?

[QuarksAreStrange]

(Re:uzmynem)

I see what you mean. I suppose so; impaired memory would affect perception. But here, we're dealing with something as basic as "what should a room look like". If this is something you can't remember, life must be quite strange regardless of vision.

[vanoman]

i want more of it, please upload more stuff like this :D

[QuarksAreStrange]

hehehe I have 5 videos on the brain, that's already a bit much in my opinon : )

Thanks for watching though.

[adriansalamandre]

can defense lawyers use this video in court to refute eye witness accounts?

[QuarksAreStrange]

haha, good question. "your honor, the witness saw what he wanted to see" : )

It could be arguable. But it could not be based on a generalization, like using this video. I suppose a lawyer could use this principle and try to demonstrate, with the opinion of a professional, that the witness was bias by her previous experience and memories. But I'm no lawyer, and this comment is not a legal advice, hehehe : )

Thanks for commenting adrian.

[jumpingelephant]

stupid brain who have fooled me for the last time. i'm going solo.

[motorolafan]

hahah, good one :)

[Allenrythe]

Aaarraaggjhhhhh!!! What the hell! That hurt my head!

[novaczik]

@jumpingelephant good one

[xxJoeDog93xx]

if someone had cerebral palsy would that affect their minds eye in terms of forming mental pictures?

[gabydewilde]

If less than half of what you think is written here is actually written here,

then most of the world is not real.

[NromulousZ]

its obviously elevated to the right even i think its dumb

[PKarklouse]

So does that mean that my brain improvises anytime it sees something familiar?

[spilledinsanity]

@uzmynem

I suppose that could be the way it works during an attack of derealization. I don't think impaired memory would change anything though, even if you can't consciously remember things like names the idea of a room, a chair, a face is all stored deeply in our subconscious.

just a guess though.

[j1514120119]

I think the influence of memory on vision is only supplementary, providing interpretation of raw visual stimuli (size, shape, object identification, etc.), so that big incoherence wouldn't happen in the actual visual picture, but only in its interpretation.

[spartacandream]

Reality = Stranger than what your brain will allow you to see. Nuff said.