Cory Forsyth » brain http://coryforsyth.com The Life of Me Tue, 15 May 2012 01:38:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=1270 Day 3 of the Monkey Mind http://coryforsyth.com/2010/06/03/day-3-of-the-monkey-mind/ http://coryforsyth.com/2010/06/03/day-3-of-the-monkey-mind/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:12:50 +0000 cory http://coryforsyth.com/?p=270 saccadic eye movement than anything mystical, but it's fun to see how long I can hold onto it. Excepting of course that merely noticing when I go into tunnel-vision is an interruption of my clear mind and the goal here is to let go of things, not hold onto them. Inspired by the article on distraction that I linked to yesterday, I've also picked up Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, which was cited in it.]]> http://coryforsyth.com/2010/06/03/day-3-of-the-monkey-mind/feed/ 9 Radiolab Premiere Party at Angelika Tonight http://coryforsyth.com/2008/02/21/radiolab-premiere-party-at-angelika-tonight/ http://coryforsyth.com/2008/02/21/radiolab-premiere-party-at-angelika-tonight/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:02:17 +0000 cory http://coryforsyth.com/2008/02/21/radiolab-premiere-party-at-angelika-tonight/ 632641637527. I'll explain how in a moment. I've been thinking a lot about memory lately as a result of listening to the Radiolab show on Memory and Forgetting last week. If you're even peripherally interested in science (and c'mon, everyone's at last slightly interested), you absolutely must subscribe to their podcast. The show is really well edited, with densely layered audio and great pacing. They're about an hour long, and usually I can't get into podcasts that long because I don't often have an uninterrupted hour to focus on them, but these are so engaging and accessible that I can jump in and out of listening to them on my way to and from work without missing anything. They make me look forward to a long subway ride, which is the ultimate compliment I could give any media. Listen to that episode. In it they describe, among other things, that the memory-erasing technique from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is not a fiction, and is in fact in use today! If you're in New York, you can come listen in to the debut Radiolab episode for this season. It will be playing tonight (Thursday, Feb 21st) at 7pm at the Angelika Theater in Soho. There's more information on the Radiolab site. Looks like the show is going to be about laughter. Ok, here's how you can use that number (632 641 637 527) to figure out any day of the week. Those numbers correspond to the first sunday of each month for 2008. For instance, January 6th is the first Sunday in January, and therefore the first digit in that number is 6. December 7th is the first Sunday in December, hence the last digit in that number is 7. Now, using that information and some simple math, you can figure out what day of the month any date falls on. For instance, let's calculate July 21st, 2008. July is the 7th month, so we want to know the 7th digit above. It's 6. Now, 21-6 is 15, so July 21st is 2 weeks and 1 day after the first Sunday in July. That means it will fall on a Monday. Another cool thing is you can use that number to figure out how many Friday the 13ths there will be in 2008. There's 1, in June, because June starts on a Sunday. If you need help memorizing a 12-digit number, the peg system is pretty effective. If you're serious about wanting to learn more about memory, the book "Your Memory" by Kenneth Higbee is required reading. It's the only memory book I've ever read that actually improved the way I memorize. I wish I had had that book in college. More about Radiolab: ]]> http://coryforsyth.com/2008/02/21/radiolab-premiere-party-at-angelika-tonight/feed/ 0 Neural Dystonia http://coryforsyth.com/2007/10/28/neural-dystonia/ http://coryforsyth.com/2007/10/28/neural-dystonia/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:37:34 +0000 cory http://coryforsyth.com/2007/10/28/neural-dystonia/ spinning dancer illusion posted at Cognitive Daily, and I emailed Mo, the Cognitive Daily blogger, about it. Here's what he had to say:
I'm not sure exactly why the phenomenon you describe occurs, but it sounds like an analgous situation that occurs in the condition known as occupational dystonia, whereby a highly skilled sportsperson, or musician (or basically anyone who performs specific patterns of motor activity over and over) sometimes experiences muscular spasms that temporarily prevent them from performing those actions. I'll hazard a guess that the phenomenon you describe happens because repeatedly processing the same information in a short period of time causes a temporary "blow-out" of the underlying neural circuitry, which is being stretched to its functional limits. This is what neuroscientists believe causes dystonia. I remember as a youngster, I often experienced something very similar: if I kept saying the same word over and over again (either out loud or even, I think, just in my head), I would come to a point at which that word sounded very strange, and I could no longer recall its meaning!
I remember repeating words to the point at which they suddenly failed to denote when I was young as well. I kind of like the idea that parts of my brain may be temporarily blowing out, although that doesn't sound like a good thing. Spinning Dancer IllusionThe Spinning Dancer: Which way does she spin for you? ]]> http://coryforsyth.com/2007/10/28/neural-dystonia/feed/ 1