Saturday, November 9, 2013

Perceptual adaptation.



Perceptual adaptation is the means by which the brain accounts for the differences that the subject may witness, particularly alterations in the visual field. For example, if an individual's visual field is altered forty five degrees left, the brain accounts for the difference allowing the individual to function normally.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptual_adaptation

There has been many studies out there in the Pioneering days and now!
I found out about these studies in the 1990's in those college videos
you might of seen.

At the time they mostly had the same resolve, it takes more time
to adapt to the change than to get back to norm.

"Adaptation to left-right reversed vision rapidly activates ipsilateral visual cortex in humans." The brain mechanisms of adaptation to visual transposition are of increasing interest, not only for research on sensory-motor coordination, but also for neuropsychological rehabilitation. Sugita [Nature 380 (1996) 523] found that after adaptation to left-right reversed vision for one and a half months, monkey V1 neurons responded to stimuli presented not only in the contralateral visual field, but also in the ipsilateral visual field. To identify the underlying neuronal mechanisms of adaptation to visual transposition, we conducted fMRI and behavioral experiments for which four adult human subjects wore left-right reversing goggles for 35/39 days, and investigated: (1) whether ipsilateral V1 activation can be induced in human adult subjects; (2) if yes, when the ipsilateral activity starts, and what kind of behavioral/psychological changes occur accompanying the ipsilateral activity; (3) whether other visual cortices also show an ipsilateral activity change. The results of behavioral experiments showed that visuomotor coordinative function and internal representation of peripersonal space rapidly adapted to the left-right reversed vision within the first or second week. Accompanying these behavioral changes, we found that both primary (V1) and extrastriate (MT/MST) visual cortex in human adults responded to visual stimuli presented in the ipsilateral visual field. In addition, the ipsilateral activity started much sooner than the one and a half months, which had been expected from the monkey neurophysiological study. The results of the present study serve as physiological evidence of large-scale, cross-hemisphere, cerebral plasticity that exists even in adult human brain.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15477033

That is not surprising from other studies pointing to the brains adaptability or prehistoric instincts to deal with change.

"Walking Backward May Sharpen Thinking."
The next time you're facing a challenge, you might not want to stand your ground. Maybe you should try walking backward instead, Dutch researchers suggest.

"Whenever you encounter a difficult situation, stepping backward may boost your capability to deal with it effectively," Severine Koch, PhD, and colleagues write in May's edition of Psychological Science.

Koch's team works for the social and cultural psychology department at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

They were interested in the effects that "approach" movements, like walking toward something or pulling something toward you, and "avoidance" movements, such backing away from something, have on mental functioning.

The researchers reasoned that the body and mind are on higher alert when they're in avoidance mode. So they put that theory to the test by studying 38 students at Radboud University Nijmegen.

Each student took word tests in which they read a color word -- like red -- that was sometimes displayed in matching ink (like "red" written in red ink) and sometimes shown in another color (like "red" written in blue ink).

The students had to name, as quickly as possible, the color of the ink. And, they had to do that while walking forward, backward, or stepping sideways.

When the test was easy -- and the color names and inks matched -- reaction times for correct answers were just as good while the students walked forward, backward, or sideways.

But when the test was tough -- and the color names and inks clashed -- reaction times for correct answers were quickest while walking backward. Reaction times while walking forward or stepping sideways were similar.

Based on the reaction time advantage, Koch and colleagues write that "backward locomotion appears to be a very powerful trigger to mobilize cognitive resource."
http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20090508/walking-backward-may-sharpen-thinking

***These studies are amazing. In college I wondered
or more thought what if you did those studies on Psilocybin mushrooms?
More of why the hell would you! That resolve is pretty clear to me!
But the question would be would you be able to get to norm after that,
or be stuck in the mud there? It truly makes interesting college talk!

Overall, I hope this story gets many motivated, do better in school.
Well because you would be missing out on a lot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHMvEMy7B9k