What is Digg?132 Comments
- alucard963, on 10/11/2007, -2/+320Terrific. I can remember 7 things in my short term memory and they give me a list of nine things.
- AnteChronos, on 10/11/2007, -16/+99"1) Your short-term memory has a max capacity of seven."
Well, technically the *average* max capacity is seven. Some people can remember more items, some fewer.
"2) Chartreuse is the most visible color."
While true, it's not so much a brain secret as a cones-in-your-retina secret.
"5) Your brain is awful at probability."
This is pretty obvious. Otherwise nobody would ever go to casinos.
"7) You can perceive depth with one eye."
Misleading, as the depth perceived this way is approximated rather than actual. Using two eyes gives you *actual* depth cues. Using one eye to interpret things like angles, object occlusion, parallax, etc. can give you some idea of the *relative* locations of objects, but it's nothing like what you get with two eyes. Just try tossing a coin into the air and catching it with one eye closed (or, even better, having someone toss something to you), and you'll see how useless a single eye is at determining the actual distance of objects. It should be noted, though, that actual binocular vision is only useful in the range of a few dozen feet. Anything further than that is operating on the above approximating principles. - str3ama, on 10/11/2007, -1/+53"Chartreuse is the most visible color"
As if advertising and SPAM wasn't bad enough, now everyone's going to use it as a colorscheme for their ads. - mahler, on 10/11/2007, -4/+461) Your short-term memory has a max capacity of seven.
2) Chartreuse is the most visible color.
3) Your subconscious is smarter than you are.
4) You have two nervous systems.
5) Your brain is awful at probability.
6) Your memory isn’t great either.
7) You can perceive depth with one eye.
8) uhm ....
9) .... ? - iliketokick, on 10/11/2007, -1/+37At least it wasn't called "Brain Hacks."
- majorbabu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+27http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartreuse_(color)
- ColonelJessup, on 10/11/2007, -1/+27That chick is pretty cute. I think my long term memory will remember that photo until at least right before bed.
- iliketokick, on 10/11/2007, -3/+28Thanks for not calling this Brain Hacks.
- frozenyoghurt, on 10/11/2007, -3/+24I have a piece of chocolate stuck to the roof of my mouth
- Twasi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+21#8 was pretty interesting to me.
"The parts of the brain that transfer information to long-term memory shut down while sleeping. This is why dreams quickly fade away after you wake up."
While I already knew this it got me thinking about how cool it would be if someone could concoct some sort of procedure or substance that would keep this from happening allowing us to vividly remember all our dreams. Although the sad fact is it would probably have some horrible side effect, but who cares, right?
I read somewhere people can have hundreds of dreams a night and some can have a time period that spans days, but only a few of these dreams are able to be recalled upon waking and even then they are easily forgotten and it's only bits and pieces. - TheoDork, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20Who is this Brian Secrets?
- crushfan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17Off-topic: Are lifehacker and lifehack related or what? (I mean web-sites of course)
- crushfan, on 10/11/2007, -2/+16... Why are you doing this? I just asked a question. I hope you lose them both.
- KlayBorg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12Why did you change it to Secrets, rather than quirks as the origional article had?
- postitnote, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11I think he hosts American Idol.
- thekronz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Thank you for mezmerizing me, majorbabu. I couldnt stop looking at the color... it was so.... visible.
- StacysMom, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10I knew someone in the Marines that had to prove they had depth perception with one blind eye. It went all the way up to the Commandant of the Marine Corps and he went into the office, picked up 3 paperweights off the desk and started juggling. He got to stay in the Corps.
- noblepaladin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Yeah, agreed. Even though for a logical point of view, 'Linda is a feminist and a bank teller' is more restrictive than 'Linda is a bank teller', if both are mentioned as options, many people will assume that the second one implies that she is not a feminist. From a very strict and technical standpoint, one should not make such assumptions. But in common language, people don't always speak properly and you automatically fill in the gaps with reasonable assumptions. In this case, it sounds like you are being asked a question about your opinions of Linda, it doesn't make sense to have two options that are are set in stone already (e.g. prob of A and B
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8I think you mean your long term memory will remember your palm, and the towel you used. Wow that was bad, it's time to work!
- FieldAnonymouse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+89) You have an instant playback feature.
At the beginning I mentioned that humans have three forms of memory, short-term, long-term and sensory. Sensory memory is your brain’s equivalent to an instant playback feature. Working for both your vision and hearing, your thalamus can resend signals a few seconds after they were originally sent.
Well that certainly is a reasonable explanation as to why sometimes when you say something to someone they'll react first as if they missed what you said, and then react what you said without you repeating it. "What? Oh, right." - beriadan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8I have to disagree a bit with the study example given for number 5 as it relates more to set theory than probabilities. It more likely proves that your brain assumes that what is not said is false. From the example : Linda is a feminist and a bank teller, or Linda is a bank teller (assumes she isn't a feminist).
- phoenix78, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9red and blue sirens? lights buddy, lights.
- harksaw, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8" 8 ) Long-term memory shuts down during sleep.
The parts of the brain that transfer information to long-term memory shut down while sleeping. This is why dreams quickly fade away after you wake up. Although you may have several dreams in a night, they aren’t being recorded into long-term memory. Generally only the fragments of a dream left in short-term memory have a chance to be encoded after you wake up."
This makes so much sense. There are so many times that I've heard about being woken up at night and talking to people, and then falling back asleep. In the morning I have absolutely no recollection of the incident.
I used to turn off my alarm clock and fall back asleep with zero recollection of having done so. (Now I make sure to put it further away) - OStourist, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Most visible color depends on time of day. That is why police sirens have one red and one blue siren.
Also when I was working for a Northern mining company it was ORANGE knapsacks we wore
in the wild as they maximized visibility for the helicopter pilots when they came to pick us up.
So I think the visibility thing has been simplified. - NerdyNinja, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7The whole article was like reading an outline of a freshman year psychology class, written by the dumb kid. I found it oversimplified, honestly. 5-9 items in short term memory, sensory memory is more like a transmitter of context (what your eyes see, skin feels, etc) that lasts only a split second. He should have also mentioned that short term memory typically lasts for a minute or two and then starts to fade rather quickly.
Also, if you're curious about the idea that your subconscious is smarter than you, I recommend picking up the book "Blink" - it does a very good job of showing anecdotal evidence alongside the science behind each one, and it's written in an entertaining way, so don't harbor fears of buying a dry text book. - tantalos, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I am a neuroscientist. This article should be taken with more of a grain of salt than people are apparently taking it. The long-term memory shuts down during sleep, is a tremendous oversimplification that is going to lead to erroneous conclusions. The brain is bad at probability is also pretty poor. That test didn't show that 'the brain' is bad at probability, what it showed is that people jump at answer choice at that the answer choice that is deceptively enticing, linguistically. When someone says 'the brain is bad at' it lends a scientific totality to something that is in fact erroneous. I'm glad people are reading articles about the brain, I just wish that some of those articles would stay simple and fun without sacrificing clarity to the point where they are misleading.
- dignation, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6it might also give you a sense of time during dreams, that way if you have a dream that spans days you might actually feel like it lasted for days.
- skankyBacon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Reminds me of the bit on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
"Brain...Seeeeecrets." - gingerbreadcat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I caught this too. If they put both statements in the same list, people will assume that one statement must be qualitatively different from the other, since they are being offered a choice. In order to make a choice, people assume there must be a difference between the two options. The study was flawed.
- pivovy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5"Long-term memory shuts down during sleep."
But how come we dream about things from our past then? I guess instead of shutting down it just goes read-only or something... - AJH16, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Am I the only one who kind of doubts the reasoning on number 5. It seems like a much more likely reason is that people in general don't really understand probability. It doesn't neccesarily mean they are bad at it, just that it isn't taught well. Unless of course they did the study across a variety of countries and social groups that come from differing educational backgrounds and found the same true in all of them. It seems like it might be them displaying their lack of skill at probabilities and statistics.
Otherwise an interesting list. - Tanishh, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Hmm, now reply is working. Weird. Anyway...
Yeah, I do this all the time, and I see my siblings do it as well. Someone'll ask us a question and I'll say ask "What?" and then immediately answer, or in the middle of saying what stop saying it and answer. This would explain that. - jlewicki, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5i keep a roll of duct tape near my alarm. every night i plaster the ***** over. It takes me realistically 30 seconds to unravel the thing to turn it off. and by then, I'm awake.
- RpgActioN, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4A lot of these are just plain wrong. Anybody who has taken even a basic psychology course can tell you that.
For instance, the two main nervous systems do not control inhibition and excitation, they control the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system) and everything else (peripheral nervous system). The peripheral nervous system can be divider further into somatic (voluntary movements of skeletal muscles) and autonomic (involuntary movements of smooth muscles). The autonomic can THEN be divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic, which is SORT OF what the article is getting at, but not really. - XIUgraag, on 10/11/2007, -5/+9"This short-term memory can hold only about five to nine (average is seven) items at a time."
Did you even read the whole article or just the titles? - nodonoug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4dugg for the cute girl!
- TKn00b, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5#7FFF00
- Char1ie, on 10/11/2007, -5/+8Did you even read my whole comment or just the first sentence?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -7/+10I can't even remember the last story I dugg. What is this short-term memory you speak of? I wish Digg would give me that instead of a busted ass comment system.
- Psych77, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5So what's the point of this story again? That he can juggle? People can juggle blindfolded too, but I wouldn't want them waving a rifle around near me.
- humperdeath, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3"Not to mention a lot more one-eyed pirates walking overboard." What more proof do you need?
- tehpwnrate, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@Char1ie: Yeah, if he were responding to what you said, he would have hit "reply" under your name, not AnteChronos's name. Someone doesn't understand the comment system :)
- yoshitomi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3What was #9 again?
- TKn00b, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3#7FFF00 FTW
#7FFFF00 FTL
http://www.google.com/search?q=%237FFFF00&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a - samk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3One potential problem is that you might not be able to distinguish what happened in a dream from what happened in reality. :(
- jayguy01, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I have been blind in one eye since birth and I can guarantee you that I can perceive depth perfectly. I played sports throughout my youth and have very good hand-eye coordination.
- mojoel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Ewww that's currently the least fashionable color. Last time that was in was the late 80's and the most produced article of clothing that was that color was the painter's hat.
- cbuddha42, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Even with my crappy memory, I still already knew all of these.
- ripitinhalf, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2"Misleading as the depth perceived this way is approximated not actual"
No ***** that's why he said you can *perceive* not *measure* depth with one eye - heresy_fnord, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4#9 was most interesting.
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