[Xmca-l] Re: imagination and controlling the perception of visual illusions.

[David H Kirshner]

Huw, 
That's the neatest thing I've seen in a long time. 
I have no idea what the underlying psychological process might be that enables this perceptual control of the train's direction, nor what its broader implications might be for our conceptual construction of the world. 
David


-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces+dkirsh=lsu.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces+dkirsh=lsu.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Huw Lloyd
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 10:22 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] imagination and controlling the perception of visual illusions.

I came across this meme/advert on linkedin, which is an animation of a tube
train:

https://buffer-pictures.s3.amazonaws.com/c2f41e8d32861d26bdecfc62f0d979e3.f009ceaeaf27dba4eb65f2ca247e9513.php

Ignoring the glib annotation, it did seem to be a little interesting to discover if there was a reliable way to manipulate the perception of the direction of the train.

Interestingly, this is something that I find I can do by imagining that I can see an object within the train moving in the direction I wish, so that perceived direction can be switched at will -- i.e. the perception of the train can be shuttled back and forth.

I'm not sure whether conditioning of memories of living in London would influence this (it is a London tube train).  Also, the speed at which the train is going suggests its going away, because a train coming into a platform would usually, I think, be going slower.

Best,
Huw