15 Ways Your Brain Fools You On A Daily Basis

Consider this post the red pill.

1. It takes time for your brain to process signals, so everything you perceive as happening in the present is actually a snapshot of the past.

2. This delay has been proposed as an explanation for the famous flash-lag optical illusion:

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

3. In fact, our brains receive different visual cues, as well as signals from different senses, at different speeds.

4. When terrifying things seem to happen in slow motion, you experience the event at the same speed as any other event in the moment. It's the memory of it that's different.

5. If you regain sight after being blind most of your life, your eyes may work, but your brain will likely have no idea what to do with the new information.

6. If you put glasses on that flip your field of vision and wear them for a while, your brain will eventually flip the image such that when you take them off, the real world will be flipped.

7. There's actually a rare genetic mutation that allows some women to see 100 times more colors than an average person.

8. Humans only see a fraction of the wavelengths of light that some other animals can see.

9. And even then, there are a ton of other wavelengths out there no one sees! Here's the spiral galaxy Messier 106 in visible light (left) and with X-ray and radio waves added (right):

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Caltech/P.Ogle et al; Optical: NASA/STScI & http://R.Gendler; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA / Via chandra.harvard.edu

Look at that! Two more spiral arms!

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Caltech/P.Ogle et al; Optical: NASA/STScI & http://R.Gendler; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA / Via chandra.harvard.edu

Look at that! Two more spiral arms!

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Caltech/P.Ogle et al; Optical: NASA/STScI & http://R.Gendler; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA / Via chandra.harvard.edu

Look at that! Two more spiral arms!

10. Forget vision! There are also a ton of tone frequencies out there that humans aren't hearing.

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

According to the NIH, the normal range of human hearing is about 20–20,000 Hz, and human speech is generally in the 500–3,000 Hz range. A beluga whale, for example, can hear sounds up to 123,000 Hz!

11. When you taste spiciness, your brain is actually being tricked by a chemical that activates parts of your tongue meant to sense temperature.

12. It's not only spicy foods that trick you. There's something nicknamed "the miracle fruit" that makes sour things like lemon and lime taste super sweet after you eat them.

13. If you are anxious or scared, you likely have a heightened sense of smell.

14. Holding something warm will make you perceive others as "warmer" from an emotional standpoint.

15. And, as we all know, our brain is able to ignore both sights and sounds it deems unimportant at any given moment. Don't believe it? Check out this video:

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com
Skip to footer