Perception Archives - Knowing Neurons

Feature image depicting a brain in the center of a circle with a visual illusion background. On the left is a hand, palm up, holding a heart. On the right, another hand is tentatively reaching out to grab it. Designed by Alexa Erdogan.

Understanding Visual Illusions Can Make Us More Empathetic

April 8, 2020April 8, 2020 McKenna Becker 1 Comment Bias, Blind spot, Cognition, Empathy, Illusion, Neuroplasticity, Optic nerve, Perception, philosophy, Photoreceptor, Politics, R.L. Gregory, Reality, Retina, Stroop Test, Top-Down Processing, V.S. Ramachandran, Visual Illusions

Philosophers and neuroscientists agree that if there is an objective reality, human beings can’t perceive it: philosophers refer to objective reality as a perception independent of any conscious awareness. Neuroscientists… Read more

Brain Books by Knowing Neurons. The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman. Illustrated by McCall Sarrett & Jooyeun Lee.

Big Ideas Brain Books Consciousness Evolution of Cognition Sensation and Perception

Book Review and Author Interview: The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman

December 6, 2019December 7, 2019 Joel Frohlich 1 Comment Brain Books, Cognition, Color, Consciousness, Evolution, Evolutionary Game Theory, Hallucination, hard problem of consciousness, Illusion, Interface Theory of Perception, mathematics, Motion, Necker Cube, Occam's Razor, Orientation, Perception, Physicalism, Psychology, Quantum mechanics

A full interview with Donald Hoffman follows this book review Does the moon still exist when you’re not looking at it? In a provocative new book titled The Case Against… Read more

Illustration of deep neural networks by Michal Roessler.

Artificial Intelligence Learning and Memory Sensation and Perception

How our Visual Neurons relate to Deep Neural Networks

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018 Ioannis Kalfas 0 Comments AI, convolutional neural network, deep learning, Deep neural network, Electrophysiology, inferotemporal cortex, Learning, Machine Learning, neural network, Perception, regression, visual system

Our brain has been evolving for millions of years, ever-changing and adjusting to handle novel stimuli and conditions, looking like a bag of slimy, gooey matter folded in various ways… Read more

Did You Know? Sensation and Perception Weird Animal Brain

Weird Animal Brain: Dung Beetle

June 18, 2018June 14, 2018 Kayleen Schreiber 0 Comments Fact, Neuron, Neuroscience, Perception, Science, Vision

he dung beetle has more interesting characteristics than you might think! If you’d like to learn about more animals with amazing vision, check out this article.… Read more

Brain Basics Consciousness Neuro Primer

Neuro Primer: Attention

May 31, 2018March 3, 2019 Sean Noah 3 Comments Attention, Brain, Brain Basics, Consciousness, Focus, Perception, Vision

magine suffering through a 2pm class on a sweltering day in early June. Summer’s almost arrived, and it’s hard not to let your mind wander away from the dull information… Read more

Brain Basics Sensation and Perception

Tick, Tock: Your Brain’s Inner Clock

April 25, 2018April 25, 2018 Jenn Tribble 0 Comments circadian rhythm, David Eagleman, Dopamine, Einstein, emotional state, five senses, Perception, Sensation, stress, temporal pattern, Time

ime: one syllable, four letters, but one of the nebulous constructs of our world. Many bright scholars and philosophers have attempted to understand time as a primary sense, including Albert… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Sensation and Perception

Neuronal Communication: Electricity and Neurotransmitters

January 24, 2018January 23, 2018 Jenn Tribble 0 Comments Brain, Dopamine, GABA, glutamate, Network, Neuron, Neurons, neurotransmitter, Perception, Receptor, serotonin, Synapse

ith approximately 86 billion neurons in the human brain, it is a complex piece of machinery in charge of movement, sensation, decision-making, and more. Behaviors cannot arise from the work… Read more

Consciousness Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

When You Split the Brain, Do You Split the Person?

January 10, 2018January 10, 2018 Yaïr Pinto 3 Comments Consciousness, Gazzaniga, Learning, Memory, Neuroscience, Perception, Prefrontal Cortex, Research, Sperry, Split brain

he brain is perhaps the most complex machine in the Universe. It consists of two cerebral hemispheres, each with many different modules. Fortunately, all these separate parts are not autonomous… Read more

Learning and Memory Neuroscience Technologies Sensation and Perception Sleep

How Binaural Beats Affect Your Brain – and How They Don’t

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017 Sophie Fessl 6 Comments Alpha waves, bayer, Binaural beats, brain waves, digital drugs, EEG rhythms, entrainment, Gamma waves, monaural beat, Perception, phase synchronization

he beat is low and steady – but it’s all just in my head… While I’m sitting on my couch, listening to some smooth jazz, there is a faint beat… Read more

Did You Know? Sensation and Perception Weird Animal Brain

Weird Animal Brain: Leaf Sheep Sea Slug

November 27, 2017December 18, 2017 Kayleen Schreiber 0 Comments Infographic, Knowing Neurons, Nature, Perception, Weird Animal Brain

Remember photosynthesis: How plants capture energy from the sun. Chloroplasts (the green parts of leaves) are where the sun’s energy is captured.… Read more

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

Our Illusory Sense of Agency Has a Deeply Important Social Purpose

September 29, 2017October 6, 2017 Chris Frith 0 Comments agency, choice, Consciousness, Epicurus, Free Will, Illusion, Mopan Maya, morality, Perception, philosophy, stoic

’m trying to concentrate on writing this piece, but my two grandchildren in the room next door have stopped making paper aeroplanes and started arguing. ‘You kicked me,’ yells Freya.… Read more

Brain Basics Brain Development Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception

Schizophrenia in a Vial? The Story of Ketamine

September 20, 2017September 24, 2017 Joel Frohlich 2 Comments Anesthesia, Antidepressant, Antipsychotic drugs, Brain, cognitie symptoms, depression, Dissociation, Dopamine, glutamate, Ketamine, negative symptoms, neurotransmitter, PCP, Perception, phencyclidine, positive symptoms, Schizophrenia, Sensation, Synaptic Connections

Note: Ketamine is a controlled substance in the US and many other countries. Do not use ketamine illicitly. magine an injection that briefly gives you schizophrenia. Now imagine that this… Read more

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