talkmagic.co.uk

An excellent programme. I've long been interested in perception and cognition, so most of the basic facts weren't brand new to me, but it's always fascinating to see the things in action instead of just reading about them.

Does anybody else want to try the magnetic sense belt now?

Being synaesthetic myself, I always find it interesting to find out what other synaesthetes perceive, and the woman there was especially articulate about the experience. Her paintings of sensations were wonderful.

One thing we didn't need to see was a close-up of a baby drooling all over itself. Gack. They shouldn't show that sort of thing at dinnertime.

Enjoyable and informative but the baby bit didn't actually show proof of anything, just the researchers telling us what their results were. Likewise the bit about bees and the attraction to colours seemed weak; surely they also have some sort of sense of smell and can locate sugar water that way? The rubber hand was also less than convincing, OK I can get the bit about seeing the rubber hand being stroked and simultaneously having the unseen hand stroked but no matter what the occasion or circumstance, somebody hitting the table with a hammer would make anyone jump!

The FAA and BAA bit was intriguing, the coloured squares likewise and even though solid proof was given, I was still fooled into thinking like everyone else.

Overall, an interesting programme which ought to make us all think about perceptions and how they can be manipulated. 8/10 from me!

The bee experiment was rushed through and not explained very well. For instance, the way they demonstrated it, the bees could have learned "go to the upper section". In the actual experiment the reward would have been moved around to different places in the array.

I've read papers on similar experiments -- the bees can't see or smell the reward solution, and really do fly to the "flowers" based entirely on vision.

They probably would have done better leaving out the bees altogether and just showing the human illusions about colours under different lights. Although I did love seeing the bumblebee's feet go up and down as it flapped its wings. That bit of amusement was worth the whole bee section.

The rubber hand bit was also not well done -- I guess partly because it was being displayed in a sideshow-type booth, they had to speed it up. The real experiments take a long time with the stroking, and then the rubber hand is pricked with a pin, rubbed with an ice cube, etc. The subject feels the sensation. If the fake hand is rubbed with ice, for instance, the subject's real hand goes measurably colder.

Also, if the subject is asked to close his eyes and point to his hand, he'll tend to point nearer the rubber hand than his real hand. That would have been good for the programme, but it takes 20 or 30 minutes of stroking to make the illusion that strong.

They should also have mentioned that work with the rubber hand and similar illusions is giving insight into phantom limb pain and helping amputees live better with their prosthetic limbs. That would have helped make the experiments more obviously useful.

You should have been a consultant on that programme - your explanation in a few sentences was far better then in their airtime. Perhaps they should have removed all the baby stuff and used the time to say more about the bees and the hand!

Hee. All that behaviour study pays off at last.

(I am a member of the ASAB, you know.)

Finally watched this

I quite enjoyed it, although a lot of the time was itching to be told of a real-life example of the concepts, rather than just "These two squares are actually the same colour, don't feel bad you got fooled, it's actually your brain picking up things"

You're not the only one who wants to try the magnetic belt, robbie And I feel sorry for that poor guy for when they take it back off them!