Blog Post Three: Synesthesia

Synesthesia is one of many phenomena that shows just how complex and interesting the human brain is. Essentially, people with synesthesia route sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, which causes them to experience more than one sense at the same time. (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/24995-synesthesia) Only about 4% of the world's population experience it. Personally, I don't, however I think it's an incredibly fascinating topic. Research has even shown that it has benefits, including better memory abilities and higher scores on tests that measure intelligence. 

Since there are multiple senses, there are multiple different ways that synesthesia can present itself. For example, words can trigger taste sensations. Someone who experiences synesthesia may hear the word "apple" and this could actually make them taste an apple. Sounds can also trigger colors or shapes. This short clip does a great job summarizing this phenomenon. 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jnZvmeemPtk

Source:

“Synesthesia: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms, Types & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic, 3 May 2023, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/24995-synesthesia. 

Blog Post Two: The Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley refers to the unsettling feeling that we experience when a figure looks and moves almost like a real human, but not fully. It tends to create discomfort and makes us feel a bit uneasy. One great example of this that has presented itself in recent years is AI-generated faces. AI (artificial intelligence) has the power to create human faces that don't actually exist. There's even a website called https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ that generates faces of seemingly very real looking humans upon first glance. However, the harder you look and the more you focus on the details, you'll start to notice that something is off. 

Another well known example of the Uncanny Valley is the characters in the movie The Polar Express. The faces of these characters are very lifelike, but certain features aren't human enough to be believable. For example, their eyes look somewhat dead or "soulless," which creates an uneasy feeling. I grew up watching this movie every Christmas with my grandparents and siblings. I remember being scared of it at first, but since I'm the youngest sibling, I wanted to act cool in front of my older brother and sister, so I watched it anyway. 

Blog Post One: Subliminal Odors

Subliminal odors are quite the interesting concept in my opinion. Essentially, they're scents that our brains perceive without conscious awareness. Although they don't reach our conscious level of perception, they still have the power to affect both our psychological and physiological responses. For example, a pleasant odor can boost your mood or reduce your stress without you even realizing it. 

While doing some research about subliminal odors, I found an interesting article about how some of the ways they can influence our behavior. Subliminal scents can influence how likely you are to purchase certain products, as well as your perception about the product quality. They can also cause people to be more generous with their time and money.

You can read this article here:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/smell-life/201101/smell-manipulation

I think it's pretty incredible how easily our behavior, emotions, and decisions are influenced by something as small as a scent. The fact that a lot of the time we don't even realize it's happening reveals just how complex the brain actually is. 

Post #3: The Highest Form of Flattery

 Something that I believe in and share with people is that we are all mosaic art, taking pieces from those we interact with. This concept is backed by what we learned in class. Even if it is subconscious, as people, we will start to subtly imitate those with whom we are interacting. This can be small things, such as mannerisms or even changes in overall behavior. This is an involuntary behavior, such as breathing. 

This part of the lesson reminded me of a study that I watched. People were told to sit in a waiting room. There were people already there, and when a clicker went off, actors stood up. They were told to stand up, but the test subjects simply followed the people, no questions asked. The study had more to do with social conformity, but it reminded me of our natural response to imitate. 

I will share the link below to the video. It's a very interesting concept, and it's fascinating to see how people will simply do something without questioning it because the majority is doing it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kWygqR0L8&t=51s

Post #2: Uncanny Valley

 Uncanny Valley is the concept associated with the unsettling feeling when presented with a face or image of something that is similar to a human but not quite. For example, when watching a movie with a humanoid robot. I have learned about theories in which people believe that this concept was an evolution from depicting Neanderthals and homo sapiens. 

A known example of the uncanny valley is the famous Christmas movie, The Polar Express. Watching the movie during winter break has been a tradition in my family for many years. However, despite watching it for so many years, the "eerie feeling" doesn't go away when seeing the characters' faces. The movie was one of the first to rely heavily on motion capture. This caused the characters to seem unnatural.

The link shared below shares more information on the creative design choices made in the movie. This can be beneficial in understanding the thought process in creating such a movie, where negative comments about the uncanny valley were shared. This movie may have allowed people to start questioning these unsettling feelings when watching the movie, especially since it was in the early 2000s.

https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/design-lessons-from-movies-the-polar-express

Post #1: Synesthesia

 The first time I learned about synesthesia was in an online debate about colors that are associated with school subjects. People had different ideas; some said math was red and others chose blue. The one thing everyone was certain about was that science was green. This piqued my interest, as I always considered science to be blue, as when I picture science, I think of vials of blue liquid from chemistry class. Synesthesia is when our brain links sensory information together in a manner to make sense of it. 

That is the first time I started to take an interest in how our brains associate sensory information. However, I had been doing it for a long time; it was just a normal response. 

A common example of this is Thursday, November, purple, and 7x7=49 are all the same. It's an unwritten association that even is right and odd is left. Examples such as these have been something we never had to discuss because it was a collective agreement. 

Later on, I discovered that not everyone thinks like this and that only 4% of the world's population has synesthesia. This caught my attention, as I would have expected more people to have had these experiences. Still, 4% of the world's population is 320 million people. 

Post 3 - Influence of Culture on Perception

 Have you ever found yourself pondering why it is that individuals from different cultural backgrounds perceive an exact image differently, and what builds their unique thought process? This is expanded on by the article The Brain and Thinking Across Cultures from Frontiers for Young Minds, who emphasize the remarkable way in which our cultural backgrounds shape our perception and thinking.  One way this is demonstrated in the study is how people from Western cultures usually hone in on central objects in a scene, and people from Eastern cultures pay more attention to the context and background. This can be attributed to different values we are conditioned with by the culture we evolve in, which can transform how we solve problems and make decisions. 

The idea that the culture in which we were raised can have such a great impact on our decision-making as adults reflects what we've learned in class regarding perception and cognition operating as a complex and involuntary process. Like how expectations change what we taste or the way subliminal cues shape our behavior. As we read in chapter 5, believing the wine is from California can change how we perceive the taste of the food, or in chapter 4, where subliminal scents are utilized to influence people's behavior. Paralleling that, our cultural values direct how we interpret and manage things or what we choose to focus on. It's important for us to recognize these cultural distinctions, even more so in an ever-growing integrated world, because it cultivates compassion and better communication among different cultures.

                                Created by Olga Shtonda | https://www.behance.net/gallery/184129913/International-Food-Festival

    

Güss, C. D. (2015). The brain and thinking across cultures. Frontiers for Young Minds, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2015.00012

Rosenblum, L. D. (2011). See what I’m saying: the extraordinary powers of our five senses. W. W. Norton & Company.

Post 3 - Sense of Touch in Perception

 Sense of touch is amazing. People can "see" with their hands. Someone who is blind can read braille or recognize faces by touch. Haptic perception isn't just about feeling pressure; it's about exploring and learning as well. Research shows that the brain areas used for vision can start processing touch in blind individuals, which proves how flexible our perception systems are. 

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn2758

This expands the idea that perception is not locked into just one sense. It is multisensory and adaptable. Our brain can reroute and make new connections if one sense is lost. It also made me think about how underrated touch is. We rely on it for so many things like emotion or safety, even if we don't always notice it. 

Post 2 - Sense of Smell in Perception

 Our sense of smell is much more powerful than we think and is deeply tied to perception and memory. Smell can instantly bring back strong memories or emotions, like how the smell of sunscreen might remind you of someone or the beach. This happens because our brain connects smell directly to areas like the amygdala and hippocampus which control emotions and memory. Herz & Engen (1996) have also proved how odor is connected to our memory. 

Link : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258430509_Odor_memory_Review_and_analysis

This personally changes how I think about perception. We always talk about vision or hearing as our main sense, but smell is also crucial. It also expands what we've learned because it is not just about sensing things, but it is also about how our brain interprets and connects them as well. Smell shows us that perception is deeply personal and emotional, not just logical or visual. 

Post 1 - Rubber Hand Illusion

 Rosenblum talks about the rubber hand illusion, where people start to feel like a fake rubber hand is part of their body if it's stroked at the same time as their real hidden hand. This shows how the brain mixes sight and touch to create a sense of body ownership. It's the idea that it is not just what we feel or see alone; it is both together. This idea is also included by studies like Botvinick & Cohen (1998) which show how easily our sense of self can be tricked.

 Link: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(98)00020-8/fulltext

This expands what we learned about multisensory perception because it shows that it also shapes our sense of self and not just how we experiences the outside world. It made me think about how this could help people using prosthetics or in virtual reality. If our brain can adopt a rubber hand, it could potentially also accept a robotic one as well. It shows how science can turn brain tricks into real-life tools!

Post 2 - Deception of the Mind

 Picture yourself having all the symptoms associated with conception, including absent periods, enlarged abdomen, fetal movement, and even secretions from the breasts. This is the phenomenon facing women experiencing pseudocyesis, also known as false pregnancy, which is an uncommon state in which the body exhibits symptoms of pregnancy without true conception or the existence of a fetus. This has been expanded on in Psychology Today, in that these women aren't making up experiencing these symptoms, but their bodies truly display these signs, mainly due to delusive psychological causes.

An occurrence such as this emphasizes how much the mind affects our physical health. This mirrors what I read regarding how our expectations can shape our perception of taste, and the state of pseudocyesis illustrates how, when we believe in something so strongly, it can result in substantial changes in our bodies. It's indicative of how the powerful connection is between our mental state and physical reactions. Enhancing our knowledge of pseudocyesis can serve as a tool to deepen our understanding of conditions where physical symptoms stem from psychological factors and underlines the importance of showing sympathy and compassion to those impacted. Awareness of these states encourages us to think of the extent to which our perception and emotions can ultimately mold our physical state. 

Starkman, M. N., MD. (2016b, February 25). . . . and how to support someone who experiences it. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/on-call/201602/the-heartbreaking-phenomenon-of-false-pregnancy

Rosenblum, L. D. (2011). See what I’m saying: the extraordinary powers of our five senses. W. W. Norton & Company.

The Relationship Between Sound and Movement in Sports

    The role of auditory information on perceptual motor processes has gained great interest in recent years. This is is due to the increase in functionality of rehabilitating athletes because of auditory perception and the effect it has on recovery through various modalities. It is believed that the with an increase of auditory input, there is also an increase in motor processing. This would be proven to be true because of the sequencing in which auditory and motor regions of the brain fire. 

    Sonification of sounds enhances the natural ability of athletes. These sounds come from common input like: pattering of feet, observation of auditory input through the environment, the sound that comes from a baseball hitting a glove, etc. These inputs are necessary and also crucial for the listener to adjust their orientation in space and time. The availability of this information allows for an individual to transform their task intrinsic feedback. Based on this system, you can identify where a sound originates, and also what might be the outcome of the initial sound. 

    The sonification of auditory input shows a tremendous feedback system from necessary motor regions of the brain. In could this mean that you can actively train your body for physical stimulation while using only auditory cues? It certainly means that there is a direct relationship between acoustic input motor regions and perception. It might also be possible that you can "train for a a sport without and physical output of motor function, and you can solely train auditory input through variations of acoustic variations. 

The Science of Hearing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkGOGzpbrCk

Sources 

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00244/full 

Post 1 - How Our Brain Fills in Motion We Can't See Clearly

People often find themselves noticing a movement someone makes from the corner of their eyes and immediately anticipating their next move, without knowing the overall situation. This experience is investigated by the latest research published by Scientific Reports, which examined this occurrence, revealing that our brains aren't simply dependent on visual cues for the perception of motion, but more complex than that, we utilize the knowledge of our body. More simply put, we can observe movement according to our subconscious knowledge of how our body moves, despite the mechanics involved in that motion not being in our field of vision.

What's more, this study reinforces the concepts from our class reading regarding perceptions that are unconscious to us. It's reminiscent of how we are influenced by subliminal smells, which can alter our moods or behavior, as discussed in Chapter 4 of See What I'm Saying by Lawrence D. Rosenblum. This research also demonstrates that our perception of motion is predominantly shaped by our subconscious. It seems that our brain does the heavy lifting by utilizing our body’s biomechanical knowledge, such as joint and posture constraints, to compensate for a lack of visual cues. Additionally, this idea elaborates on what we have been learning in the reading so far about the many components involved in our senses, which allows us to assimilate and foresee based on internal structures. So, we shouldn't just take what we see at face value because it's our expectation of what our bodies do that frames our perception. If this foretelling ability has such an immense effect on our perception, then the knowledge we have of our body may be the secret super sense we haven't acknowledged.

Parmigiani, S., Sebastiano, A. R., Romeo, M., Cattaneo, L., Garbarini, F., & Sinigaglia, C. (2025). How body knowledge shapes motion perception. Scientific Reports, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-    00213-0

Rosenblum, L. D. (2011). See what I’m saying: the extraordinary powers of our five senses. W. W. Norton & Company.

Sensation & Perception

 Perception and sensation are fundamental psychological functions that enable us to take in and make sense of the information we encounter in our environment. They process visual, auditory, and tactile information to assist us in navigating, communicating, and making decisions in daily life. Since they influence how people from other cultures view and react to their surroundings, they are important on a worldwide scale. Increased awareness, faster responses to danger, and improved decision-making through precise interpretation of sensory input are all benefits of feeling and perception. Misconceptions, sensory overload, or perceptual biases that result in poor decisions or actions can all be detrimental aspects of sensation and perception.

                                            

                                                                        References 

Sensation and perception | EBSCO. (n.d.). EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | www.ebsco.com.                 https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/anatomy-and-physiology/sensation-and-                           perception#:~:text=Through%20the%20process%20of%20sensation,OF%20PSYCHOLOGY%3A%20Sensation%20and%20perception 

 

Sensation and Perception | Introduction to Psychology. (n.d.). https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-             hvcc-psychology-1/chapter/outcome-sensation-and-perception/ 

Worthy, L. D., Lavigne, T., & Romero, F. (2025, July 3). Sensation and perception. Pressbooks.                             https://open.maricopa.edu/culturepsychology/chapter/sensation-and-perception/

S

Synesthesia

Synesthesia is when someone experiences one sense through another or at the same time. An individual with synesthesia could taste something specific when hearing a certain word their brain associates it with. For example, someone could hear the word house and taste chocolate. Though this type is less common, a more common experience would be seeing a specific color when look at a number. For those of us who are non-synesthesia, we still experience our senses working together when we smell food, and taste its flavor. So what causes synesthesia in certain individuals? Research shows that this may have genetic links, neurological factors, and even brain damage. Many famous individuals have claimed or have been suspected to have synesthesia like Billy Joel, Duke Ellington, and John Mayer which makes sense based on their careers.

 

'Imitation is the Highest form of Flattery'

    

    The phrase, 'imitation is a form of flattery' is pretty common. I've heard it while venting to friends whenever someone I know has copied my outfit, my nail color choices, my accessories, you name it. I've shared that phrase with my friends too, when they've faced the same. 

    However, imitation as I've recently learned, goes much further than copying a pair of shoes or a handbag. According to Rosenblum, "On a largely unconscious level, you are always imitating people. You can't help it."   

   Now, this is also different from imitating an interesting accent we hear on TV, or mimicking a broadway tune we enjoy. These are conscious choices we make to copy what we've just seen. The imitation that Rosenblum emphasizes is one I'd never heard of, but is responsible for what's called the 'chameleon effect'. Which means, the unconscious tendency to mimic other people. (Rosenblum, 2010)

    While the conscious mimicry can come across as either insulting, or as a true form of flattery, the unconscious mimicry increases connections and allows us to better interact with those around us. 

    I did find an interesting article in Psychology Today about the chameleon effect that mentioned that the more empathetic a person is, the more likely they are to mimic other people. (Degges-White, 2023) 

     So, if you find yourself wondering why someone is imitating you, take rest in knowing that it may in fact, be a form of flattery! 

 

- Luci

References

Rosenblum, L. D. (2010). See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses. W.W. Norton & Company 

 Degges-White, S. (2023, December 21). The Chameleon Effect: Why We Mirror Friends and Lovers. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lifetime-connections/202312/the-chameleon-effect-why-we-mirror-friends-and-lovers 

 

 

 

     

 

 

'You Can Smell Fertility'

  

    According to Rosenblum's book, fear as well as fertility and compatibility can all be smelled. The reason behind this pretty interesting fact, is pretty similar to the bliss we feel when we light a beautifully scented candle, or the disgust we feel when our sibling passes gas in our vicinity. 

     More specifically, men can smell when a woman is ovulating, and it activates the motivation related processing in their brains. This was proven through an experiment published in 2021. Habel et al (2021) share that, "ovulation odor was found to lead to a stronger involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex, the precuneus, the insula and also the temporal-limbic structures including the temporal pole and the amygdala." 

    This experiment also tested using the scent of pregnant women. So, while I sit hear four months pregnant myself, I am now adding to my list of worries, the scent I exude! 

    Thanks for reading! 

 

- Luci

References

Rosenblum, L. D. (2010). See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses. W.W. Norton & Company 

Habel, U., Regenbogen, C., Kammann, C., Stickel, S., Chechko, N. (2021). Male Brain Processing of The Body Odor of Ovulating Women Compared to that of Pregnant Women. NeuroImage, Vol (229). DOI 117733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117733. 

'All The Dishes Lacked Flavor'

 

    After a dining experience in a pitch black restaurant with some of his companions, Lawrence D. Rosenblum, author of, 'See What I'm Saying', concludes his experience saying something that left me chuckling. He writes, "13 different dishes in all - lacked flavor". (p. 104) 

    As a Hispanic woman who grew up watching my great aunts and grandmother cook, I myself am now an avid cook, and lover of all foods. I can smell if the frying plantains are close to burning, I can feel when the dough for an arepa is ready to shape and cook, I can see when my sofrito is just the right color and consistency, and most importantly, I can hear when the coffee maker on the stove is about to boil over. 

    However, while I know from experience that how food smells, feels, and sounds is a good indicator of how it'll taste, I would not have always been able to explain why. Rosenblum covers this gap in knowledge throughout his book by stating that neurophysiological research supports the perceptions of flavor through other senses. He also emphasizes that eating, is a multi-sensory function. So, everything is working together to enhance the experience.  

    There is also a really informative article on Food Insight.org called, The Science of Taste, that explains this in detail. 

    Hopefully you're able to better appreciate all your senses working together to ensure you enjoy your next meal! 

- Luci

References

Rosenblum, L. D. (2010). See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses. W.W. Norton & Company 

Food Insight. (2018, March 13). The Science of Taste. https://foodinsight.org/the-science-of-taste/ 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

Environmental Awareness and Sensational Adaptation

 Our perception and behavior might be influenced by the continual adaptation of our senses to their surroundings. For example, we may unknowingly filter out cues such as the smell of our home or the background noise of a busy metropolis. By increasing our awareness of our sensory experiences, mindfulness practices can help us appreciate the little things in life. Taking the time to intentionally observe sights, sounds, and fragrances can improve our day-to-day existence. Designing our living and working environments with sensory adaptation in mind can help. Creating spaces with a good balance of sensory inputs can enhance wellbeing, comfort, and productivity.

The Influence of Touch on Emotional Bonding

 Touch is a potent sensation that is important for establishing emotional bonds and expressing empathy. Simple actions like a hug, handshake, or slap on the back are more effective than words when it comes to showing support and understanding. Whether in a personal or professional setting, incorporating adequate physical contact can reinforce friendships and provide emotional support. Understanding the significance of touch can aid in our comprehension of how physical contact affects mental health, particularly in situations like therapy and caregiving.

Communication Through Multisensory Integration

 We frequently use a variety of senses in our daily interactions in order to comprehend and communicate properly. For instance, in order to completely understand someone when we are speaking with them, we require visual signals such as lip movements, facial expressions, and body language in addition to hearing what they are saying. Understanding multisensory integration can improve our ability to communicate. To become more proficient communicators, we can work on making eye contact, paying attention to body language, and actively listening. We can concentrate on vocal tone and clarity in virtual meetings, when there are fewer visual signals, to make sure our messages are understood well.

Smell You Later

 

Thinking back to our natural scents and how this plays a role in who we're attracted to. I wonder if this impacts our choice of perfume/cologne. If you have a natural scent of spicy, do you opt for a spicy perfume or are you attracted to a sweet perfume? Which leads me to wonder, is the best cologne for you the one that pairs best with your natural scent type? After all the same cologne will smell different on everyone. 

Mountain Biking but Make It Blindfolded

 Daniel Kish and what he has accomplished, with what I assume is with the encouragement of his parents, is simply amazing. I agree that regardless of your (dis)ability you can and do whatever your heart says to do. Reading through the first chapter of our text, I was quite literally and remain amazed. I just don't think I could do it. For Mr.Kish and his friends this is their reality and they have so well adapted to and learned echolocation. I imagine if I were invited to mountain bike, anxiety alone would cause me to run into a tree and get very hurt. Now, I don't imagine Mr.Kish would put me on a bike with a blindfold immediately. Perhaps he would work with me to build up my skill before the real test, but for some reason I just don't know that I could trust myself. In the example of briskly walking down a hallway, while reading notes and drinking coffee I feel a lot more experienced. In fact, I may even be a pro at hallway navigation while not directly paying attention to where I'm headed. 

I'm wondering, what are your thoughts? 

Finally The End

 I'm not a person that could be considered an avid reader. Much like many of you, I enjoy short form content and YouTube videos. I love the occasional binge watching and I go down the random Reddit rabbit hole. Reading See What I'm Saying was painful. Do not get me wrong, I felt like certain topics were extremely interesting! Like Daniel Kish and the blind mountain bikers, Karl Wuensch experiencing anosmia and how that impacted him, learning about natural scent and how that plays a role in your attraction to others, and of course phantom limb. Other than that--not so much. I think it was a hard read with good parts and at this start of the course, I just never thought I'd be done! 

It wasn't until I got to chapter 11 that I was approaching the good part. I'm still amazed by how multisensory our perception really is. Up until reading this (reasonably) lengthy book, I had thought our five senses were just that. Individual senses that make our reality possible. I now in fact realize just how much they come together and even overcompensate when another is lost or temporarily taking a break. 

What were your honest reviews of the book?  

Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover, Judge it by it's Smell!

The smell of a person often indicates how likely they are to be judged by other people. People who smell better are often judged positively, with people who smell worse often judged poorly. While basic interactions are judged by the use of cologne or perfume, or the lack thereof, smell actually plays a more important role in life than just whether or not a person is worth interacting with. Everyone has their own unique smell, with people being able to tell the difference between sexes depending on their natural smell, as well as the body's symmetry.

Someone’s natural smell is often indicative of the “symmetry” of their body. Studies have shown that women typically go for men who smell more "symmetrical", as they often smell better than those who aren't. Symmetry is defined as having the same features on both sides of a person’s body. This is used subconsciously through sight and smell to help people find a healthy partner. It has been shown that people can smell how symmetric a person is, which increases their chances of a good relationship. Not only is it indicative of physical attraction, it also provides a way to more likely produce healthy children, in a way providing a level of natural selection.

While we aren't told to judge a person by their looks or what they wear, when it comes down to it, a person with higher symmetry is more likely to get into a relationship, because it indicates that their health is in better shape. Not only does it imply physical or mental health, but it helps indicate genetic health as well, having a significant less chance for any potential genetic deformities.

Work Cited

Rikowski, Anja, and Karl Grammer. “Human body odour, sym
metry and attractiveness.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 266, no. 1422, 7 May 1999, pp. 869–874, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0717.

Rosenblum, Lawrence D. “Like Marvin Gaye for Your Nose.” See What I’m Saying, W. W. Norton & Company, New York City, New York, 2011, pp. 79-98.

Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley is an emotional response to something human-like, but not quite human. While the most common examples are from video games and movies, there are theories as to why this emotional response appeared in the first place. Many people believe there was some threat to humans while they were evolving that caused this to develop, like a predator, or the dangers of a dead body if they came into constant contact with it.

Either way, that threat seems to have diminished almost entirely, and the effect is now mainly caused by attempts at entertainment through film, video games, and even folklore to an extent. One of the most prominent examples of this effect is through the 2004 animated movie The Polar Express. Made entirely from motion capture, many people felt as though the character's facial movements were creepy, and that they had emotionless eyes. Another popular example is Dwayne Johnson's character, "The Scorpion King," in the 2001 movie The Mummy Returns. Because the animation for his character was widely considered to be bad, it left many people feeling uncomfortable after watching it.

Not only this, but recent advances in robot technology has triggered this effect, in an attempt to make the robots appear more human-like or life-like. The same reasoning behind the movies and video games also goes along with the development of robots, with a popular robot being CB2, a robot made to look like a two year old. While it's missing a lot of the features of a typical human, many people believe the face still makes them feel uncomfortable, as it attempts to mimic behavior as well as facial movements.

Work Cited

Biba, Jacob. “17 Examples of the Uncanny Valley.” Built In, 16 Apr. 2024, builtin.com/robotics/uncanny-valley-examples.

Burnard, Eleanor, and Robert Lee III. “10 Worst Cases of the Uncanny Valley in Film.” Collider, 2 Jan. 2024, collider.com/worst-cases-of-uncanny-valley-movies/.

Rosenblum, Lawrence D. “Facing the Uncanny Valley.” See What I’m Saying, W. W. Norton & Company, New York City, New York, 2011, pp. 175–201.

Auditory Approach System

Technically speaking, humans have the ability to predict the future by using their senses to help determine what's around them. While it's not always accurate, it certainly helps to determine whether or not a situation is dangerous, especially in situations where it's warranted, like in war, hunting, or in a dangerous area. One of the abilities people have to help determine whether or not a situation is dangerous is the auditory approach system. Using sound, they develop their version of the "Spidey Sense", where they are able to sense potential danger and hopefully give them enough time to escape.

The auditory approach system is the use of hearing to determine whether or not a quick reaction is needed in a certain situation. It incorporates sounds from all around, and detects the presence of objects and living things. To help increase it's accuracy, it builds off of past sounds to see how fast something is going, how far away it is, and where it is. Not only is it helpful for quick thinking, it also helps to predict the future, by using it's speed and approximate location to determine where it's going, and if it is a threat. If it's moving towards the person, determining when it's going to be closest to them is key. Using these senses and cognitive abilities, it provides another level of protection and safety for people who need it.

One example of this is hunting. Hunters need a great deal of experience dealing with wild animals to be considered good, needing to use several senses to both hunt successfully and stay safe while doing so. Oftentimes they’d need to rely on more than just eyesight, so using hearing to tell what is going on in the present, as well as predict movements in the future is an important skill to have. Learning how to hear better, and how to hear the future in this case serves as a way to protect the hunters from harm.

   Work Cited

Mowbray, Mike. “SPIDEY SENSE.” Sixth Sense Abcderium, sixthsensereader.org/about-the-book/abcderium-index/spidey-sense/. Accessed 24 June 2024.

Rosenblum, Lawrence D. “Perfect Pitches, Beeping Pitches.” See What I’m Saying, W. W. Norton & Company, New York City, New York, 2011, pp. 29–56.