10 Weird Ways Your Brain Is Tricking You

Gregory Myers http://listverse.com/2013/10/23/10-weird-ways-your-brain-is-tric ing-you/ !ur brain decides how we perceive everything around us. "t in#orms our decisions$ guiding us care#ully through the #og that is the world around us . . . e%cept #or when it lies to us. &ou see$ our brains are #ic le #riends and love to play games. !#ten$ what we thin is true is actually 'ust our brains messing with us.

10 Semantic Satiation

(ave you ever repeated a word several times and #ound that$ a#ter a while$ it started to lose meaning) "# you have$ you needn*t worry+scientists have studied this phenomenon and call it semantic satiation. ,tudies #ound that as you repeat a word$ your brain becomes satiated and you start to get con#used about what the word even means. &ou see$ normally when you say a word -e.g.$ .pen/0$ your brain #inds the semantic in#ormation #or a pen and connects the two things together. (owever$ counter-intuitively$ i# you repeat the word a number o# times in 1uic succession$ your brain becomes less able to connect it with that semantic in#ormation each time. 2esearchers have #ound practical uses #or this in#ormation beyond 'ust amusing themselves with how easily we tric ourselves+by using semantic satiation in a controlled environment$ they have been able to help those who

stutter$ and in one case were able to help someone with coprolalia$ the uncontrollable cursing sometimes associated with 3ourette*s syndrome$ by having him repeat his #avorite curse words over and over.

9 Peripheral Theory Of Emotion

4et*s say you #inally get to go on that camping trip you*ve been putting o## #or a long time. &ou en'oy a long day o# hi ing$ #ishing$ and other activities$ then go to your tent to get some rest #or the ne%t day. 5hen you wa e up in the morning$ you reali6e that something is horribly wrong+to be more precise$ there is a bear in your tent. &ou might imagine that the #irst thing you*d #eel is #ear$ which would result in a rapid heartbeat. 7ut$ once again$ your brain is deceiving you. 8ccording to 9ames 4ange*s theory o# emotion$ it actually wor s the other way around. (is peripheral theory states that when you see the bear$ your heart starts to beat #aster$ and only then does your brain start to thin it must be a#raid and send out #ear signals. 3hose who study emotion have not been able to disprove the theory thus #ar$ although some believe emotional responses are more o# a loop.

8 Earworms

(ave you ever had something incredibly terrible yet catchy stuc in your head #or days at a time) 5ell$ now you have a name #or this horrible phenomenon$ which scientists have dubbed an .earworm./ 3he e%planation some scientists give basically involves your brain getting stuc in a loop. &ou probably remember one verse o# whatever catchy song you are stuc with almost per#ectly$ but don*t now the rest o# the song as well. 8#ter singing the #irst verse$ your brain tries to move on to the ne%t$ but doesn*t now the rest o# the song. 7ecause your brain li es to go bac to un#inished thoughts$ it gets stuc in a loop$ continually trying to start again and #inish the song. 8#ter presumably struggling to get the ,pice Girls out o# their heads$ a group o# scientists were determined to #ind out how to brea this spell. 8#ter a lot o# study$ their advice is a sort o# Goldiloc s philosophy+you need to #ocus on a cognitive activity that isn*t too easy or too hard. 3hey suggest solving anagrams or reading a novel.

7 Moral Dumbfoun in!

Most o# us have strong opinions on issues li e cannibalism and incest$ with the ma'ority o# us considering them to be morally wrong. (owever$ researchers have #ound that$ when as ed about these issues$ most people*s brains sit there sluggishly$ unable to come up with an appropriate response$ even though the behaviors in 1uestion are considered taboo by most modern societies. 3his phenomenon is termed moral dumb#ounding+1uite simply$ the sub'ects were .struc dumb/ and unable to properly e%plain why they #elt so strongly about an issue. !ne o# the scenarios described someone wor ing with a body that was going to be cremated anyway and ta ing a small chun o# #lesh home with her to eat. ,he made sure to coo it thoroughly to remove any diseases. 8nother told o# an adult brother and sister who were on vacation and decided to get #rea y$ ma ing sure they used protection. 3he participants were as ed i# what these people had done was wrong$ then as ed to e%plain why. 3he researchers #ound that people #elt very strongly that these behaviors were morally wrong$ but struggled mightily to verbali6e their reasoning. 2esearch has not yet e%plained why this response occurs. "t may be that society*s taboos are simply ingrained into our consciousness so deeply that we #eel a power#ul moral drive against them even though we cannot logically e%plain why.

" The #PS Effect

:o you rely on your G;, to get everywhere) :o you even use it to navigate to #amiliar places) "# so$ perhaps you might want to consider using it less. "t turns out that using G;, is an easy way to lull ourselves into a #alse sense o# security and lose our sense o# direction+too much use o# G;, actually ma es it harder #or us to create spatial maps. <ven worse$ some researchers believe that i# we don*t use our spatial abilities regularly$ it could lead to a higher ris o# early-onset dementia. 3he researchers suggest that we use G;, only when we don*t now the route$ and use it more as a tool than a crutch. !n a more positive note$ it turns out that constantly using our spatial abilities ma es our brains stronger. 4ondon cabbies have to go through an e%tremely rigorous process to learn their routes$ which only cover a =.>- ilometer -? mi0 radius but include 2>$000 streets with 320 separate routes and about 20$000 di##erent points o# interest. 2esearchers studying 4ondon cabbies #ound that not only seasoned veterans but also those who had only 'ust ta en the training had an increase in grey matter in the brain. ,cientists believe the more important implication o# this study is that it shows the human brain is e%tremely good at adapting well into adulthood.

$ Sensory Depri%ation

&ou probably won*t o#ten end up in a situation where you are temporarily deprived o# sensory input. (owever$ i# that does happen and you start to see things that don*t ma e sense or hear strange noises$ don*t be too alarmed+it*s 'ust another e%ample o# your brain playing tric s on you. 2esearchers put test sub'ects in something called an anechoic room$ a chamber designed to bloc out noise and light. 3he goal o# this particular e%periment was to see whether people hallucinated when deprived o# sensory input. ;eople reported seeing shapes and #aces$ and some even had ol#actory hallucinations. <ven weirder$ some thought that something evil was in the room with them and that something .important/ had happened while they were in there. 8ccording to researchers$ the e%planation is that our brain gets con#used when it is deprived o# sensory input$ so it creates some to #ill the void. 3he result is that we can*t tell what is real and what is 'ust inside our heads.

& Sympathetic Pain

(ave you ever heard seen someone slam their #oot in the door and winced in pain even though nothing happened to you) !r 'ust heard a story o# someone getting hurt and had the same e%perience) 3hat*s sympathetic pain. 3he researchers who studied this used M2" machines to test how sub'ects* brains reacted when loo ing at #aces with certain e%pressions$ and when ma ing those e%pressions. 5hat they #ound is that the brain displays the same activity in either case. 3he part o# the brain responsible #or this is called the .mirror area/ and scientists believe we have something called .mirror neurons$/ which are responsible #or creating a sympathetic response. <ssentially$ humans are hardwired to thin we are #eeling the same things as other people+essentially a very strong version o# instinctive empathy.

' (alse Memories

Most o# us are very sure o# our recollections$ and why shouldn*t we be) "n a strange and ever-changing world that o#ten doesn*t ma e sense$ our e%periences can be one o# the #ew things that ground us in reality. (owever$ scientists have conducted e%periments on memory and #ound that it is incredibly easy to plant #alse memories. 8ccording to one researcher$ the reason we are so easily #ooled is because our minds try to ta e in everything in our surroundings but inevitably #ail$ which leads to gaps in memory. 3o deal with these gaps$ our minds automatically plant whatever #alse memories they thin ma e sense based on our current nowledge and e%perience. 7ut it gets even worse. "n one e%periment$ researchers convinced a woman that she had been lost in a mall when she was young. @ot only did she believe them$ but she started ma ing up details about an old woman who had helped her and tal ed about loo ing at puppies. 3he researchers were able to convince her so well that when they told her the memory was #alse and it had all been an e%periment$ she didn*t believe them until she had called her parents to con#irm that she hadn*t been lost in the mall.

) Sleep Drun*enness

Most people probably now that i# you go #or long enough without sleep$ the results can be 1uite similar to being drun . (owever$ what you might not now is that too much sleep can have a similar e##ect. (ave you ever slept longer than usual$ wo en up #eeling groggy$ and wondered why you should #eel bad when you got plenty o# sleep) "t should stand to reason that you can never sleep too much+sleep is$ a#ter all$ how we recharge$ and many o# us are constantly trying to catch up. 5hen you sleep #or too long$ your brain can get con#used and leave you in a state that is hal#way between sleeping and wa ing. 3his is dangerous$ because many who are sleep-drun are unli ely to reali6e how much o# a ha6ard they are on the road. !ne doctor tells o# a patient who was so groggy #rom sleep drun enness that his wi#e thought he was having a stro e.

1 +ypna!o!ia

Many o# us are under the impression that only those under the in#luence o# drugs are li ely to e%perience hallucinations$ but nothing could be #urther #rom the truth. (ypnagogic hallucinations occur in that span o# time when you are #alling asleep but not actually asleep$ whereas hypnapompic hallucinations occur when you are wa ing up. 7oth #orms o# hallucination can be either auditory or visual in nature. 3hey are distinct #rom dreaming +research has shown that your brain can cause you to hallucinate when you are still partially conscious. 5hile those who are especially tired or have previously e%isting mental conditions are slightly more li ely to have these e%periences$ they are very common in healthy individuals as well. 8nd our brains are not satis#ied with their games only when we are sleeping or in that twilight state between worlds+neurologically normal people can have auditory hallucinations even when wide awa e. &ou can #ollow Gregory Myers on 3witter.