© Pint of Science, 2024. All rights reserved.
Individuals can have vastly different experiences of the world depending on how their brains process what they see, hear and feel. But how do your senses and brain communicate? Why do some species lack senses that are vital to humans while attaching great weight to others? And how do our brains make sense of it all? When it comes to perception, there’s more than meets the eye.
Please note that this event takes place on the ground floor and is accessible for those with impaired mobility, however there is no accessible toilet.
Please note that this event takes place on the ground floor and is accessible for those with impaired mobility, however there is no accessible toilet.
The naked mole-rat: Blind and Naked, but oh so cool!
Naked mole-rats look like cocktail sausages with legs and rather large teeth, but this odd appearance belies an array of highly unusual physiology. Naked mole-rats are cold blooded, live for over 30 years, are resistant to cancer and last long periods of time without oxygen. The question is, how do they manage all that?!
What failures of vision tell us about the brain
Even those of us who have perfect vision are often blind to much of our visual environment. For over a century, vision scientists have sought to discover when and why the visible sometimes becomes invisible. I will demonstrate how these pursuits have led to the clear conclusion that healthy eyes are insufficient for seeing – visual experience is determined by the brain.
How do we transform perception into memory?
Going through life, our senses perceive a continuous flow of information. Yet when we reminisce about the past, we remember it as divided into separate events. I will discuss how continuous perception is transformed into memory: How does our brain decide that one event is over and a new one has begun? How are these events then stored as memories? What determines which events we will remember?
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