Fear, Focus and Fakery: Psychology and the Unexpected

Can you hear through your eyes? When the viral ‘jumping pylon’ gif hit the internet recently, many people discovered they could ‘hear’ juddering or thudding sensations evoked by moving images.

Neuroscientist Elliot Freeman, a senior lecturer at City, University of London, has had a head start researching this ‘visual-ear’ phenomenon, having experienced it most of his life. He will present his latest findings from internet surveys, brain stimulation experiments and neuroimaging, which reveal what kinds of people have a ‘visual ear', and what their brains might be doing.

Misinformation, and its impact on society, has become a topic since the advent of the term ‘fake news’. Psychological research has shown that misinformation can continue to be influential beyond a correction even when people demonstrably remember the correction. Why do people show this discrepancy? This talk will consider the main reasons cognitive psychologists think that misinformation continues to have an impact after it’s been corrected. Are some people more likely to continue using misinformation than others?

Psychology experiments permit the systematic study of behaviour under controlled conditions. I discuss three non-lab studies suggesting emotions affect decisions with significant consequences. One study suggests that, in reaction to terrorist attacks on public transport, people choose riskier forms of transport. A 2nd study finds evidence that emotions aroused by “Brexit" altered risk-tasking so changing traffic accident rates. A 3rd study finds similar reactions to the election of Donald Trump in the USA.