The Brain - BBC4

[Nearly Sane]

While this is being in part discussed on the Searching for God thread, that's from a very specific viewpoint, I thought it might be useful to have a more focused thread.


I thought the first episode was pretty good, nothing particularly groundbreaking, though a lot of leg breaking (just ow!). The illustration of consciousness lag was very clear. It also emphasised how so much of what we find out about how the brain works I when things go wrong.


One thing that, while it was covered, I thought could have been given greater depth is that even where we think our experiences match with others, we can't tell that there is anything that is the same, in part because our own experiences are modulated.

[Gordon]

Just started watching this - have just past the bit about vision, and the wearing of goggles that reverse left and right. The difference between the presenter trying this for the first time, and struggling, compared with the other guy who has had time to adjust and whose brain has kind of re-mapped reality so that he can function is quite unsettling. Reality isn't necessarily quite as it seems.

Still watching!

[torridon]

I thought it a good programme overall, well explained, engaging.  I liked the analogy of a city, quite useful, that

[Nearly Sane]

 If anyone wanted to do reading on synaesthesia which is briefly covered, 'The Man who Tasted Shapes' by Richard Cytowic, and 'The Mind of a Mnemonist' by Alexander Luria are good places to start. Oliver Sacks covers it as well and was greatly influenced by Luria's presentation of the case in Mnemonist.

On a general note, almost any of Sacks' stuff is worth reading because he is a good clear writer who has enormous curiosity and empathy. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat is a good start, and can be read while listening to the opera it inspired.

[Nearly Sane]

Given that I am off on some book recommendations, and given the stuff on other thread about being like children, Lewis Wolpert's 'The Unnatural Nature of Science' is a good explanation of why it needs us not just not to be like children, but also to fight against the easy assumption of things being how they appear. 

[Nearly Sane]

On the subject of synaesthesia, I think I have a mild form with numbers in that if I here a number it seems to have a physical place in a table that 'feels' as if it is on my right hand side in front of me. Anyone else have any form of it?

[Enki]

I thought it was a reasonably good program. Most of the ideas expressed I was already aware of, but I thought they were put over pretty well. I found the idea that the largest amount of brain activity seems to come from itself reacting to and selecting from the optical stimuli to be interesting though. Yes, I liked the analogy of the city, also. Looking forward to the next program in the series.

[Shaker]

On the subject of synaesthesia, I think I have a mild form with numbers in that if I here a number it seems to have a physical place in a table that 'feels' as if it is on my right hand side in front of me. Anyone else have any form of it?

I think I may - the musical form, which is relatively common and relatively well known. This consists of somehow "seeing" - not literally; it's more "feeling" - musical keys associated with colours. It's almost impossible to put into words why C major is bright yellow, G major is brown, D major is bright green and A major is royal blue, but it just is.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromesthesia

[Nearly Sane]

Wasn't it Liszt who supposedly gave orchestras instructions to play more yellow, or less red?

[Shaker]

Wasn't it Liszt who supposedly gave orchestras instructions to play more yellow, or less red?

Quite possibly - the one composer I definitely know who had chromesthesia was Scriabin (admittedly not very well known except to music wonks).

[BeRational]

If anyone wanted to do reading on synaesthesia which is briefly covered, 'The Man who Tasted Shapes' by Richard Cytowic, and 'The Mind of a Mnemonist' by Alexander Luria are good places to start. Oliver Sacks covers it as well and was greatly influenced by Luria's presentation of the case in Mnemonist.

On a general note, almost any of Sacks' stuff is worth reading because he is a good clear writer who has enormous curiosity and empathy. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat is a good start, and can be read while listening to the opera it inspired.

I have a little bit of synaesthesia in that the days are coloured for me, plus the days of the week form a certain shape, as does the Calendar from Jan to Dec, and lastly numbers from 1 to 1000.

Does anyone else have colours or shapes/positions for Days or Numbers?

[Rhiannon]

Since I've been on this forum discussing this kind of thing, I've begun to wonder if the quirk in my brain that makes me an animist is something similar.

And I know that some people with OCD dislike odd numbers. I've always been the opposite - I prefer them to even numbers to the point where I've actually felt some kind of sympathy for them.

[Nearly Sane]

Quite possibly - the one composer I definitely know who had chromesthesia was Scriabin (admittedly not very well known except to music wonks).

http://www.themusiciansbrain.com/?p=384


Some others, including Liszt

[Nearly Sane]

I have a little bit of synaesthesia in that the days are coloured for me, plus the days of the week form a certain shape, as does the Calendar from Jan to Dec, and lastly numbers from 1 to 1000.

Does anyone else have colours or shapes/positions for Days or Numbers?

Combining this and Rhiannon's question about odd/even. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are cold days while Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are warm days. Sunday is somewhere in between.

[Rhiannon]

I've always really disliked the number six. It's not as repellant now as I found it as a child, but I still find it irritating. Not 66 though.

[Gonnagle]

Dear Berational,

Fascinating stuff, I just tried a little thought experiment, all numbers are black to me.

Dear Rhiannon,

Yes I definitely prefer odd numbers, 3, 7, 13, 17, 19, 21, especially 13, I once put a a pound chip on 13 on two separate roulette tables, they both came up at the same time, that was a good night.

Dear Sane,

Days of the week, just light and dark, Mondays dark, Fridays light, I am in a good mood right now, that Friday feeling

Gonnagle.

[Rhiannon]

19 - lovely number.

[Gonnagle]

Dear Rhiannon,

It is, what a weird lot us humans are.

3 is a magic number ( no it's not Gonnagle it is just a song ) did you ever play five stanes ( stones in English ) actually that is probably because we have five fingers on each hand.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/apr/13/favourite-number-survey-psychology

Odd numbers are dodgy, does that mean we are both dodgy, are we both Arthur Daley types.

Gonnagle.

[Shaker]

You're all a bunch of weirdos 

[Gonnagle]

Dear Shaker,

You're all a bunch of weirdos

Now that is a fact.

Gonnagle.

[Udayana]

http://www.livescience.com/15859-odd-numbers-male-female.html

Gender of odd or even numbers ...

[Leonard James]

You're all a bunch of weirdos 

Thank goodness somebody has said what I've been thinking! 

[SusanDoris]

Odd numbers (apart from one) have symmetry and balance - as there's always a middle point. I read that somewhere - it makes sense.

[Sebastian Toe]

You're all a bunch of weirdos 

I concur.
To me numbers are, well, numbers, notes are notes etc and should remain so.


Now I'm off down to the pub to meet my mate at 7.15.
I'm good at remembering appointments e.g 7.15 on a Friday in the pub - is two carrots past a chicken in a spaceship!
Slàinte
 

[Shaker]

I concur.
To me numbers are, well, numbers, notes are notes etc and should remain so.


Now I'm off down to the pub to meet my mate at 7.15.
I'm good at remembering appointments e.g 7.15 on a Friday in the pub - is two carrots past a chicken in a spaceship!
Slàinte
 

Two carrots?

Freak.