9 Brain Habits You Didn’t Realize You Had…
Brain is certainly the most amazing part of human body. It becomes more interesting when it does not work the way you expect it should. Psychology frequently establishes our intuitions about how human mind works, but it reveals a number of surprises as well…
Although some psychology students will have heard one or two of these before, here’s a list of brain habits you probably didn’t realize you had:
1) The maximum capacity of your short-term memory is seven.
Humans have basically three forms of memory: Sensory, Long-term and Short-term. Long-term memory is just like hard-drive space. Similarly, Short-term memory functions like a very small RAM. This Short-term memory is capable to hold only about five to nine (seven is an average) items at a time.
Retrieving information longer than this will need you to either pack it together into seven units or store it in Long-term memory. Have you observed that the most phone numbers have only seven digits?
2) The most visible color is Chartreuse.
Yellowish green, chartreuse, is naturally placed right in the middle of the frequencies of visible light. Human eyes have receptors for green, blue and red colors. Being placed in the middle, chartreuse actuates the most of these receptors to fire, making it distinct and easier to spot. For the same reason, in some metropolises, firetrucks have been modified from red to a yellowish green color to make them more visible and obvious to the eye.
3) Subconscious is smarter than you.
Subconscious is smarter than you. In other words, it is more powerful. In a recent study, a square was attributed to a location on a computer screen through a complex pattern. After watching it out, people began to get results better than the chance of recognizing where the square would crop up next. However, when they were inquired to consciously find out the pattern, even given a few hours, nobody really did it!
4) There are two nervous systems.
We have two sets of nervous systems. One controls excitation, while the other controls inhibition. If you hold out your hand, you might observe minor tremors. This is actually stimulated by slight, random differences in the amount each of the two systems are firing.
5) Brain is exceptionally bad at probability.
Your high-school math teacher might have told you about this one. Here what’s interesting isn’t that your brain is bad at probability. But how? In one study, recipients were asked:
Jessica is 31 years old, single, candid, and very promising. She graduated in philosophy. As a student, she was anxious about discrimination issues and social justice, and also took part in anti-nuclear demonstrations.
Assign a rank to the following statements from most probable to least probable: Jessica is a teacher in an elementary school.
- Jessica works in a bookstore and takes Yoga classes.
- Jessica is active in the feminist movement.
- Jessica is a psychiatric social worker.
- Jessica is a member of the League of Women Voters.
- Jessica is a bank teller.
- Jessica is an insurance salesperson.
- Jessica is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.
Nearly 90% of students responded that #7 was more probable than #5. This is despite the fact that to be a bank teller and in the feminist movement is entirely contained within the set of #5 (just being a bank teller). It is observable that our minds like to think more details make events more probable, not less.
6) Memory isn’t great either.
Research has revealed that people are highly probable to misremember past events. Even worse, it is quite easy to suggest a memory that never happened. Due to this fact, so-called “repressed” memories should be given a lot of consideration. It is extremely easier to suggest a memory of a situation that never encountered, than it is to recover one that actually did.
7) Depth is perceivable with one eye.
It’s not quite true that depth perception is totally the result of having two eyes. Binocular vision does help in making a three-dimensional image. Still, most of your capability to perceive depth comes from inside your brain. It has been wired to look at angles and proportions to measure distance.
If you needed two eyes to perceive depth, then most optical illusions wouldn’t work and it would be extremely difficult to gather information from two-dimensional images. Not to mention a great number of one-eyed pirates walking overboard.
8 ) Long-term memory closes up during sleep.
The components of the brain that carry information to Long-term memory turn off while sleeping. For the same reason, dreams quickly fade out after you wake up. Although you may have quite a few dreams in a night, they aren’t being memorialized into Long-term memory. Normally only the fragments of a dream left in Short-term memory have a possibility to be converted after you wake up.
9) The Brain has an amazing instant playback feature.
The last form of memory, i.e. Sensory memory is actually your brain’s equivalent to an instant playback feature. Functioning for both your vision and hearing, your thalamus can resend signals a few seconds after they were originally sent.
Let’s suppose being at a party and overhearing someone call your name. Often you can recall what they said even if you were concentrating on another conversation. This is because your sensory memory re-sends the signals when it feels something important, such as your name. If you missed this form of memory, activities such as multitasking or taking notes from a speaker would not be practicable for you.
If you’re supposed to repeat something you just said because the other person wasn’t hearing, just wait for a few seconds. Often they can replay the message in their head and cause to a reaction.
145 Excellent Comments, click here to add one
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Awesome post! seriously i didn’t think about any of the above listed things.
Great Blog BTW.
Oct 2nd, 2008
Mr Costello
‘Subconscious is smarter than you’
.. please tell me something i don’t know.
Oct 10th, 2008
JaetheFirst
Mr_Costello: I hear ya.
Has anyone read Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking? It’s very interesting, and it supports the idea that the subconscious is smarter than our socially-raped consciousness. I’m paraphrasing, and adding a little “me” in there.
Oct 10th, 2008
Ian
With the colour, are there any studies done showing it to be the most noticeable colour?
I wouldn’t have assumed so, since the eye works (afaik) with opponent colour cells (on/off ganglions). This means that mixing colours doesn’t necessarily give more input.
See opponent colour theory. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opponent_process)
Oct 19th, 2008
free
very interesting
Oct 19th, 2008
muffbone
@JaetheFirst: I love that book! So cool.
Very nice article! I definitely didn’t know almost all of these. Interesting too. Great blog =D
Oct 19th, 2008
Kathy
I read parts of Blink. It was very interesting, I have been in sales all of my adult life, and I have always been very successful. I don’t know if a person can be taught, or if they are just born with the ability to, as they call it in the book “thin slicing”. I have been doing this ever since I can remember and I didn’t know it. I now know why I was so successful in sales.
Oct 19th, 2008
Me
One controls excitation, while the other controls inhibition.
Uhh, that’s a very bad way to put it. As far as any biology or psych class I’ve taken classifies the two main nerve transmission systems are the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. One controls normal tasks, and the other controls pain/reflex/emergency and stops at the brain stem, leading to faster reflex. That’s why there are a few people who absolutely can’t feel pain. They feel normal touch, but when nerves sense a problem the sympathetic system is broken and the signal is lost.
Muscle tremor is primarily a function of your brain trying to regulate incredibly precise ion levels in muscle cells to make your muscles behave, that’s why tremor becomes worse and worse as you hold a position, and why properly using several muscles in concert with each other (see how to use the left arm in shooting) can balance tremors. The same ion balance problems cause cramps and other problems when muscles are pushed hard and salt levels become unstable.
Oct 19th, 2008
JohnP
Ooops, forgot to mention the 2nd problem with #3
Smarter is a relative term, as there are different types of intelligence. Also, the sub-conscious is always working and helping the “active” conscious when we try to solve problems.
Oct 19th, 2008
TeasasTips
I love it. Now I don’t feel so bad when I can’t remember everything I did yesterday. Thought it had to do with my wild college days. Great post!
Oct 19th, 2008
Memphos
Nice post!
Oct 19th, 2008
poiuytre
Great post!
I especially like #9, it seems obvious but I’ve never really thought about it. #5 is interesting, “It is observable that our minds like to think more details make events more probable, not less,” and absolutely true. #2 was also interesting, I’ve always thought red was the most noticeable color, but the more I look at it, I have to agree with you.
Oct 19th, 2008
barbara
very interesting,i like it, i saw a clip on the tv about your brain, on pbs and found that your brain is an amazing muscle,and that if you learn somthing new everyday your brain will keep learnng,but if you dont your brain begins to loose what you learned before,you can also can the brain you have ,and become smarter and live longer by taking care of your brain. and by looking at your brain a doctor can tell what youve been doing with it,but even if you damage it it will repair itself , so you dont have to live with the brain you were born with,
Oct 19th, 2008
clouda9
This is some great information you have shared here! Emailing and adding to my bookmarks for sure!
Oct 19th, 2008
brainDrummer
amazing post! added to del.icio.us and stumbleupon!
Thanks a lot!
Oct 19th, 2008
lsaul
Want to enhance your IQ, there is a new proven way to do it. This post says that the limit on short term memory is 7 but there are ways around that. New studies in neuroplasticity show that your brain can grow just like any other muscle in your body. All it requires is dedicated exercise.
Oct 19th, 2008
Forehead
I forgot what the first two were.
Oct 19th, 2008
Sravan
good article..
forwarded this link to all my friends.. i like the subconscious & sensory memory..
Oct 19th, 2008
Sravan
i heard that sub conscious mind comes active at some times.. is there any way that we can bring that out..
1) i heard fasting makes it active.. is that true??
Oct 19th, 2008
Linux
I absolutely love this article!
Try to remember one time you woke up saying “i had a dream last night, it was about…”. Got it? What was the dream about?
Some of the habits can be tested on the spot:
7) “Depth is perceivable with one eye.” - cover one of your eyes and look around the room, outside… you can still tell depth.
GTG! Again, great article!
Oct 19th, 2008
freddiebones
I disagree with the authors statement concerning #5, if I am reading it correctly……Given her profile, choice #7 is more probable than choice # 5 since #5 only has her being a bank teller, and #7 includes her being active in the feminist movement, which is more consistent with her given profile of concerns (”As a student, she was anxious about discrimination issues and social justice, and also took part in anti-nuclear demonstrations.”) Choice # 5 omits any of these concerns, making it a less probable choice since she is concerned about issues, rather than being apathetic……..I think the author misspoke in this case….
Overall, I pretty much agree with the other habits described, and found this list to be a compelling piece…….thanks
Oct 19th, 2008
Hevach
freddiebones: There’s no mathematical way, with any information, that 7 is more probable than 5. If 7 is true, then 5 is ALSO true.
If it can be asserted (which it can’t) that she has a 100% chance to be active in the feminist movement, then 7 and 5 are equally likely, because the second half of case 7 is irrelevant, and is true in case 5 as well.
Even if you try to assert that she has to be a feminist (which you can’t) there’s a higher chance of her being a feminist (case F) than an ACTIVE feminist (case AF) as case 7 states, because if case AF is true, case F has to be true as well.
Oct 19th, 2008
Bill Canadayb
Some years back I took an intro to Psychology class and was told that blue is the easiest color to see. Has this changed?
Oct 20th, 2008
Max
maybe I’m crazy, but I always consider my subconscious mind to be many times more powerful than my conscious mind and completely separate usually.
And by powerful, I mean it has a different form of memory (unrecoverable consciously, exist in long term memory but still unrecoverable)
and I think the subconscious mind has the same effect as the double nervous system, but instead of inhibitions and excitement its more along the lines of instinctual reactions and conscious reactions.
And i dont think its entirely true that your long term memory shuts off while sleeping. Perhaps that area of your brain is less active electrically and thats what the study they did was based on, but i can remember plenty of dreams, im not saying every single one but what was everyone’s worst nightmare? i bet you can remember that.
Oct 20th, 2008
Hannah
The first point is actually inaccurate. The capacity of short term memory is 7 plus or minus two, so 9 would be the ‘maximum’ capacity of STM. This is not true either though, because there are variations between people. Furthermore people can manipulate the way they process information in order to process more information. We group things into chunks. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to function. For example, we can read sentences that are longer than seven words.
And i really don’t know where you got that two nervous systems thing. I mean, maybe you’re thinking of the sympathetic vs. parasympatheic systems, but that still doesn’t really make sense. Neurons function in both an excitatory and an inhibitory way and these systems are deeply interconnected.
Oct 20th, 2008
Marc Donis
“Assign a rank to the following statements from most probable to least probable: Jessica is a teacher in an elementary school.”
sorry… is that supposed to be one of the options?
Oct 20th, 2008
Sean
Your long term memory does not close up during sleep, sorry, you lose.
Oct 20th, 2008
Sarah Palin
Why didn’t I remember all the funky facts and other crap they made me memorize for TV interviews? Why did I blank out? Just because I never read anything (other than People magazine and the National Enquirer) doesn’t mean I’m dumb. I have talents. I can walk like a runway model, I can play the flute enough to be in my high school’s marching band and I am an absolute pro at being the meanest bitch in America!
I want to take America back—-to the 19th century. I love John because he’s sooooo old and kinda sickly, don’tcha know? So I WILL get to be president and then I’m gonna invade that country i can see from my front porch with 40x binoculars and while standing on the sofa.
Oct 20th, 2008
me
don’t buy “blink”, it was boring and a re-hash of old science channel information.
Oct 21st, 2008
http://viralurl.com/djhollins/freecashfreetraffic
I never heard of that yellowish green color before. Interesting article.
Oct 21st, 2008
Cojon
This website, like many of them, is taken to be truth. Yet is it? As a professor of psychology, I would have a different opinion. As example; perhaps the yellow/green is more visible (it is) but we are consciously trained to observe red as a sign of emergency. Hence it takes top spot as a visible color. We observe it more closely. In commercial buildings, blue is the most noticeable color–the blue of the Morpho butterfly, to be exact. just coming close to that color in a commercial building will guarantee a glance. It is one of the least appearing colors in nature, and the one to most cause us to take notice. In nature, yellow green is fairly common.
Ahhh, the thinking mind always agrees with what is in print. Maybe you should read my articles. . .
Oct 21st, 2008
Smarts McSmarterson
Photoshopped
Oct 21st, 2008
Sean
Right,
7 digit phone numbers because that’s all that can easily be remembered.
Do people just believe anything written in these things?
Oct 21st, 2008
John Doe
the subconscious is not smarter than you.
because the subconscious is a part of you. it is an illusion to think that you are your consciousness and your consciousness alone. it is just that certain kinds of information, such as this example of pattern recognition does not reach your consciousness. you must not see the consciousness and the subconsciousness as 2 devided things. your brain is made of alot of different mechanisms, and some of them are percieved conscousnessly.
Oct 21st, 2008
anon
#2 doesn’t make sense. Like the other person said, colors are determined through comparing across the different types of cones. Since that chartreuse color is between green and yellow, there would be more overlap in response of the green and red cones, whose maximal absorbencies are ~533 (green) and ~564 (yellow) nm respectively. Since their so close there’s a lot of ambiguity in response. To me it looks like that color is pretty close to where red and green respond equally.
I just learned this in my neuro class, but I know some of this is right, but someone correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s my honest thought on #2.
and with #5, when you add two possibilities the probability always goes down. like if you have 1/2 a chance of picking a blue ball from a bag and 1/2 a chance of picking a red ball from the same bag, what is the probability of picking both a red and blue ball. It’s 1/2*1/2= 1/4.
Correct me if I’m wrong on that one too… The last math I have was Calc II two years ago.
Oct 21st, 2008
Paul Weckle
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Oct 21st, 2008
GJ
#5: “It is observable that our minds like to think more details make events more probable, not less.”
I don’t think this is true.
When you’re given a set of options, you instantly make assumptions to weigh everything up.
So even though the options were -
5) Jessica is a bank teller.
7) Jessica is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.
The brain can read this(, sometimes incorrectly,) as -
7) Jessica is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.
5) Jessica is a bank teller [and is not active in the feminist movement].
Because its wired to evaluate distinct options, instead of nested probabilities - which serve very little purpose in making a decision.
Other than that, I’d say its an interesting and well-illustrated article.
Oct 21st, 2008
bobby
Problem with any “brain” information is that scientists just don’t know that much about the brain STILL. Much of what is out there is purely speculation.
It is amazing though how easily fooled the brain is, in our advanced physiology classes we spent a few labs doing experiments that “fool” the nervous system, cool stuff.
Oct 21st, 2008
peg
in re to question by Marc Donis; thanks, thats what i wanted to know!
Oct 21st, 2008
TIM
That was so amazing I can only remember about 4 or 5 while I’m typing this.
Oct 21st, 2008
STEVE
This is malarkey.
“Short-term memory is capable to hold only about five to nine (seven is an average) items at a time… Have you observed that the most phone numbers have only seven digits?”
Phone numbers do not have 7 digits because the brain can remember 7 digits more easily, it’s because at the time they figured that was the best tradeoff of ease of memory and having enough numbers to accomodate future growth. In Europe, the phone numbers have 9 digits so this theory is invalid.
Also, if this were true, memorising one phone number would take up your entire short term memory, which is not the case. If you needed to remember the area code as well you’d be hooped.
Oct 21st, 2008
fdaa
Very interesting, enjoyed the post.
Oct 22nd, 2008
Hashim
Interesting facts!! I never knew that subconsious is smarter.
Oct 22nd, 2008
atrix
so, that’s how my brain used to work at .. hihi
Oct 22nd, 2008
John
great post!
…. exactly what is it about? sorry my long term memory is short today.
Oct 22nd, 2008
Carl
Uh, as far as #5 is concerned, the reason people are incredibly stupid is because they blatantly tell you she is a school teacher right after the colon before the list starts. That automatically negates all answers except 2 and 4 if you can safely make the assumption that she only has one job, which I am doing. Every other answer involves a profession/career, which makes them wrong in light of the fact that she is a school teacher, so you’ve narrowed the list down to two people. We aren’t bad at probability, but we are bad at paying attention to details that are relevant.
You could go on about how she could be a school teacher and a psychiatric social worker on the side or vice versa. You can do that with every answer, which is why I feel safe making the assumption that she is strictly a school teacher because that is what they tell me.
My argument is completely moot though if the people that created this page accidentally forgot to make a #8 and that the school teacher thing was just another probability instead of a given fact in the problem.
Oct 22nd, 2008
tom at live
Nice word ‘Chartreuse’.
Oct 23rd, 2008
C K
This is an awesome post. Found the part on ‘chartreuse’ quite true. In fact, I was staring for a long time at that picture (to that chartreuse strip) for some obscure reason.
Oct 23rd, 2008
James
Well I knew I could perceive depth with one eye and I’ve even juggled with one eye closed for a few seconds also I noticed whenever I mishear someone and I ask to repeat it I understand what they said a second or two later. The others are really cool to know.
Oct 23rd, 2008
italkfilm
i never thought that it actually took only one of your eyes to be able to see with depth perception. Very Interesting article and have certainly been enlightened by it.
Oct 24th, 2008
Andy
“Although you may have quite a few dreams in a night, they aren’t being memorialized into Long-term memory.”
This is clearly not true. I can still remember dreams I had thirty years ago in great detail. Oh, and it´s “memorised” by the way.
Oct 25th, 2008
charles
“Long-term memory closes when you sleep”
Is this really true? Maybe.
Oct 26th, 2008
Steve D
Ref. #2, “Chartreuse”. Back in the late 60’s, Coventry (England) re-painted all their fire engines very bright yellow, a colour specifically designed by Lanchester college physics department, because it always showed up as the same colour under any type of street lamp. It was a scary, unmissable colour that seemed to glow even in daylight. The firemen were told not to look at it when cleaning the machines as it would give them a headache or worse. Not unlike chartreuse, but more yellow and much, much brighter. It didn’t last as the powers that be declared that fire engines must always be red. It was an interesting experiment and interesting in this context also.
Oct 26th, 2008
Ahmed
“Let’s suppose being at a party and overhearing someone call your name. Often you can recall what they said even if you were concentrating on another conversation. This is because your sensory memory re-sends the signals when it feels something important, such as your name.”
I’m not so sure about sensory memory “resending” the original sensory signals to remind you that your name was call. I think it makes more sense to say that the brain stores an alert in your short-term memory associated with your name being called. This alert can be remembered and resent for up to a minute, which is more feasible than the few seconds provided by sensory memory.
Oct 26th, 2008
Ryan G
Very interesting. Thanks.
Oct 26th, 2008
BEN HASSEL
what about brain on drugs…………?
Oct 27th, 2008
EWOKDUNG
The fact that phone numbers have seven digits is moot, what about when phones only had three digits. It has to do with population, memory had zip to do with it.
Oct 27th, 2008
Cetin
Well Good blog, but i dont think you did enough research about colors.Im radiobiologist and working about colors also.Mixed colors doesn’t necessarily give more input.
Check Colors Theories.
Greetings.
Oct 27th, 2008
Pam
Thanks for the great article
Oct 31st, 2008
Someone who can read
To anyone who has an issue with #2 and especially Cojon since he felt the need to mention he was a psychology professor as well as be snide about the ‘truths’ printed here.
Every word of #2 is 100% truthful. We may be psychologically trained via our environment, society, etc to -respond- better to red, blue or any number of other colors as far as grabbing our attention goes, but this is not what the poster claimed.
If you reread his first line, he states that “The most visible color is Chartreuse.” That is a quantifiable fact. You can actually measure what spectrum is visible to the human eye and whichever color has the most overlap between the three types of receptors is the “most visible color”. Not the most noticeable, not the one we’re trained to react to or look for, just the most visible.
Thankfully, I believe most people already realized this. /rant
Oct 31st, 2008
Whaddya Ngo
#9 is an eye- (and ear-) opener!
Nov 1st, 2008
Sasha
I have some issues with this stuff. I will take each in order.
1) The mind is capable of handling as many things as needed to survive. This is what is referred to as multi-tasking. The only reason phone numbers HAD 7 digits is because more were not needed. Last I checked, you need the area code to make a local in many cities. My city requires use of all 10 digits in order to make a call.
2) That is not chartreuse. Chartreuse is a variant of yellow. That stripe, which is clearly Photoshopped, is GREEN. Neither yellow or green are exceptionally visible. As a matter of fact, they are the least visible colors. That is why emergency lights are red and text is black.
3) This one is not even about the subconscious mind. It sound more like psychic abilities, which, while plausible, have never been to exist.
4) The author has mislabeled the voluntary and involuntary nervous responses. The two “systems” are simply parts of the same whole. The author might just as well have said the sewer and drinking water systems are separate.
5) Everything we do is about probabilities. Human communication requires probability in order to function correctly. Human beings predict with roughly 80% accuracy what the other person will say BEFORE they say it. That is probability. Just like the author will PROBABLY disagree with me on this point.
6) MOST people remember things just fine. The only time when memory truly fails a person is during a traumatic event or in old age. This is because adrenaline disrupts the function of memory since the energy is required elsewhere. The analogy is when you start your car, the radio cuts off until the car has started. It is bad analogy, I know.
7) This is true for me, but MOST people required BOTH eyes in order to perceive depth. If this were not so, humans and all other animals would have only one eye. Nature is highly efficient. Nothing is done without reason for long. The reason humans have two eyes, two ears, two arms, two hands, two legs, and two feet is because those things have become the optimal arrangement.
9) Sensory memory is a form of long-term memory. It is how you can ride a bicycle even after years of not doing so. Sensory memory has nothing to do with hearing your name called out at a party.
Nov 3rd, 2008
Whee
lol - To Sasha… Chartreuse by most definitions is a shade between yellow and green if you want to look it up in any dictionary. It’s kinda funny that you justified your problems with this website in the exact same manner as the person who wrote the list, but somehow you seem to think what you’re saying is more valid. And what you said about the nervous system is not entirely correct. There are many branches to the nervous system which control different parts of the body according to their function and also anatomical position in relation to how they branch off the central nervous system. The ‘involuntary’ and ‘voluntary’ systems are part of the same whole, but they control/ are controlled by different things. I’m not even sure what point you were trying to make with the sewage thing…
Btw, I loved this list! I dunno how accurate everything is without any references, but it’s still an interesting way of thinking of things.
Nov 4th, 2008
Mary
i remember my dreams every night and yesterday i had 2 lol
Nov 5th, 2008
Sadpanda
Sent #9 to my wife. Bitch won’t stop repeating everything she shouts if I don’t respond in 0.5 milliseconds.
Nov 6th, 2008
soko
thats odd. i remember dreams ive had 10 years ago.
Nov 7th, 2008
krembo99.com
Interesting list, although most of those things are knows, It’s nice to read all of them in one place, with short, clear description.
Nov 9th, 2008
bam
Sasha, im covering my left eye. I can still perceive depth
Nov 9th, 2008
Natasha
Such an amazing article. Thanks
Nov 9th, 2008
SteveJ
In the ‘7 items’ bit, what exactly constitites ‘an item’ and how is it represented in the brain? What is the diference between say remembering 7 diferent names or 7 numbers in a sequence?
Nice post, worth the neurons!
Steve
Nov 11th, 2008
Kat
Yeah…Definitely not two nervous systems. The one nervous system is divided into the Central nervous system and Peripheral nervous system. From there, the PNS is divided into Autonomic and Somatic. The Autonomic is divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic. All of these have different specializations and pathways, none of which are strictly inhibitory and excitatory unless you are talking about spinal reflexes which don’t even involve the brain.
Nov 12th, 2008
ensignro
“Subconscious is smarter than you”
Yes, but I’m glad we don’t live there.
Nov 12th, 2008
Robsteranium
re: #1: phone numbers & seven slots
The seven slots refer to peoples’ typical capacity for counting an array of similar objects on sight. Try it out: ask your friend to draw a random number of dots in a line and then guess how many there are in the shortest time possible… You’ll find that it’s quite hard to go above 7 dots.
This limitation is why we break down long strings of digits (phone numbers, ISBN, bar codes, etc) into smaller chunks. You’ll probably find in the above example that you count 7 dots as a a group of 3 and a group of 4!
Nov 15th, 2008
nucular
memorialized?????
Nov 16th, 2008
yosef
Thanks for the article
Nov 16th, 2008
bob mckay
If long term memory is turned off while asleep, why does sleep learning, listening to hi speed tape recordings while sleeping, have a degree of success? Is the L.T. Memory only off during during periods of non-REM sleep or the opposite or both? In my studies there seems to be quite a bit of differing opinions about this.
Nov 19th, 2008
Alex
I dunno about the example used in number 5. Just based on that, I think people are just bad at probability.
Nov 19th, 2008
buckeye joe
I think I liked it, but my excitation nervous system interrrupted my short term memory and I am feeling very sleepy.
Nov 20th, 2008
Kim
Whoa! Some nice ones.
Nov 20th, 2008
Mattress
so interesting!!! i always wondered why my hands tremble often. Now i know!!
Nov 21st, 2008
Ringo
I specificly enjoyed the part that says that short term memory turns off when we sleep.. It happened to me sometimes to wake up in the middle of the night and be completly disorientated for some seconds - Like the brain is loading its OS :p
Nov 22nd, 2008
myWORLDisUNKNOWN
wow! very nice article here. i never expected our brain could be this delicate.
Nov 25th, 2008
Prajapati
Thanks.
Nov 25th, 2008
haziqruzaini
freaking awesome article.
Nov 27th, 2008
Adrian Eden
I love this type of information, I know there is so much we can’t understand about our world and ourselves yet, thanks for sharing this post!
Have a great weekend!
Nov 28th, 2008
Karina
Wow, that’s pretty cool. 8d
Nov 28th, 2008
Alejandro P
Wow that last one made perfect sense to me. I’ve said “huh?” to people countless times, then answered their question without them having to repeat it. I thought it was a habit of just responding “huh?”.
Dec 3rd, 2008
web design
Excellent Information
Dec 4th, 2008
Sam
#9 is referred to as “The Cocktail Party Phenomenon” incase anyone is interested on more information involving the minds perception of “important”.
Dec 5th, 2008
Carlos
I did the one about probabilities well :-\
Dec 5th, 2008
Focus Group Moderator
Really interesting information here and well written. The subconscious mind definitely holds powers that we have yet to fully discover.
Dec 6th, 2008
syrhiz
wow interesting articles!! thumbs up!!
Dec 17th, 2008
aidan
i didnt know about all this thanks for sharing this! such a great explanations!
Dec 18th, 2008
jaden
interesting articles about the brain!! thumbs up!!
Dec 18th, 2008
bAMF
These are interesting.
Except for the probability one.
Simply offering number 7 suggests that five exists without the ending seven offers.
I call bs on that one.
Dec 18th, 2008
clark martin
Nice theory, except that the “rich” have always relied on the “POOR” AND MIDDLE CLASS to make them rich and keep them that way. If everyone was a rich person, there would be no one to do the work that the “rich” need to make their money. As a pricess once said, “If work was so great, the rich would have taken it all for themselves.” I think what your preaching is “ego,” and me. me. me at all costs. Yes, Phil Knight is rich; but it’s been done on the backs of a whole lot of people who, until the news leaked out, were paid nothing compared to Knight himself. Then sold on a market to people at the highest possible price. This is the story of all rich people everywhere, at any given time. And honestly, white people have been very good at this game, taking other’s resources and spreading the wealth—among themselves. That’s one great thing about the rich–they always pay themselves first–
Dec 23rd, 2008
Bailey012
This is very interesting, i .love to read about this kind of stuff!
Dec 29th, 2008
GoalieLax
#1 is just absurdly false
during my time at a us military college, we routinely committed dozens of things to short term memory four our daily required knowledge….full menus for the next 3 meals, day counts to major events, watch officers, news articles, etc
in any given morning, i would commit at least 30 individual pieces of data to short term memory in less than half an hour
Jan 4th, 2009
Joe
Funny. Some people say “wha!?” before you’ve even finished a sentence. I always naturally gave them a few seconds before I responded and, after a few seconds, they would normally get what i was saying.
Fascinating.
And Goalielax. If you’re going to remember stuff like that it’s going to be commited to long term memory. Obviously if you don’t refresh this information it dosn’t last as long in long term memory as other things. When they say “short term” they mean very short.
Jan 12th, 2009
sealy mattresses
Great article, I always wondered why I’ve never been able to really remember any dreams I have, only pick out certain fragments - but if you woke up in the middle of a dream, wouldn’t that mean your short term memory, which still has the dream fresh, should then move it to you’re long term section?
Jan 14th, 2009
pudday
nice
Jan 16th, 2009
Russ
Hey,
Don’t overthink these examples. I see some great responses here in rebuttal but the point of this website is still good.
We’re all talking about it, and thinking. Great stuff!
Jan 17th, 2009
to sasha
haha…oh my sasha…have you taken any psych/bio courses?? might want to check that list and rethink some of those comments…
Jan 18th, 2009
Real Time News
I love figuring out how we work
Jan 20th, 2009
Buddha of Hollywood
Number 3 has to be my favorite!
Great blog! I’m looking forward to more wonderful posts!
Jan 21st, 2009
Monica
Excellent article. thanks 4 sharing
Jan 23rd, 2009
Joe
A lot of these aren’t even brain habits. Bad title.
Jan 23rd, 2009
dR dMo
dreams are just your brain defragging, moving random bits of info into groups (stories) for efficient storage
just prior to death the experience of your ‘whole life flashing before your eyes’ is your brain preparing to upload all your info onto the ‘big database’ by moving it all to the frontal ‘temporary’ files
you can continue to exist after death as a ‘data set’ for as long as you need to reconcile your life
this can take a long time or be quite quick, it can be a ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ like experience
your ‘beliefs’ will shape this experience
Feb 1st, 2009
indianapolis web design
As a designer, I use my subconscious constantly. (regarding #3) I find that I am better able to solve problems on days where I have completed a successful design.
Feb 4th, 2009
Skeptical
My attention was attracted to the red color. And I based my order of probability based upon the meaning in the information, not the number of details in the information. I think your findings leave a lot to be desired. But, that’s just the way I think. Guess that means not all brains work alike.
Feb 7th, 2009
Internet Marketing
Pretty incredible.
Feb 10th, 2009
sagar
good tips on 9 brain habits you didnt realize… i must follow you tips,…
sagar
Feb 15th, 2009
psychology major
Your statements are nice, but often overly generalized.
You do not have a limited “short term memory” of only 7. The number, according to empirical research, is 7 PLUS OR MINUS 2. To be accurate, it is called “working memory” and not “short term memory.” This is due to a new understanding that working memory is not entirely separated from long term memory, but has the capability of being consolidated into long term memory - otherwise known as long-term potentiation.
Also, the main reason chartreuse is eye catching in that picture is because of the optical attraction to a solid color leading into a space. This concept is often used in graphic design and is referred to as leading lines. A possible reason that a chartreuse firetruck would attract more attention is not because your eye “sees” it better, but because it is a novel stimulus. This is the reason why an extra brake light was added to cars (on the top) but is not nearly as effective as when it was first introduced. The researchers had mistaken higher attention for the placement of the light and NOT the novelty of the light.
These sort of problems can be found throughout any generalization. The truth of the matter is that things are much more complicated than they seem.
Feb 16th, 2009
SCHWIRIGKEITEN
I AGREE WITH ‘PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR’. PEOPLE ARE ALL-TO-OFTEN READILY SATISFIED WITH WHATEVER PROVIDES AN EXPLANATION, HOWEVER INCOMPLETE. OF ALL THAT IV’E READ ON THIS POST (MUCH OF IT ENORMOUSLY INTERESTING), I THINK HIS CLOSING STATEMENT CAME CLOSEST TO TRUTH.
Feb 19th, 2009
lieben
Interesting Information.
Mar 5th, 2009
Rob L.
very very interesting stuff, thank you.
Mar 23rd, 2009
Sean
@ #1, What about working memory?
Mar 30th, 2009
Brian H
Interesting post.
Mar 31st, 2009
Ian
These are not Habbits!!
Apr 1st, 2009
Weos
Excellent article.
Apr 5th, 2009
Nuro Nuctone
Spectacular article!
Apr 7th, 2009
XA James
Cool facts.
Apr 8th, 2009
Total Recall
Can I play back a blowjob? That saves me a lot of money only having to refresh my brain once a while and play back every night.
Apr 9th, 2009
Kshitiz
great collection
Apr 16th, 2009
cjaura
While interesting this artical is almost entirely half-truths.
1. The capacity of the shirt term memory can very across individuals and is tested for on an IQ test. The average is 7 but many people are capable of 9 or so.
2. This has been tested using psychophysics and the sensitivity across the light spectrum in normal/bright light has two peaks that center around what would be green and red. This is because the majority of cells in your brain send stronger signals than normal with one color and weaker than normal signals with the other. This cancels out a lot fo the signal strength. So, either bright red-orange or bluish-green are the best.
3. Could be, though it is not though to have the benefit of rational thought, sorta like a mad scientist.
4. The nervous system can be devided into two main categories, Sympathetic and Autonomic. They are better though of as one we mostly control and one that we dont. Even better are Central and Peripheral, with central being your brain, spine, and part of your eyes, and peripheral including everything else.
5. We are actually pretty good at weighing odds when you consider that when faced with a judgement call we often factor a lot more into our decision than the basic math.
6. This is true. Long-Term Memories of any type appear to remain active and changable throughout life.
7. This is the best one on this list and is totally true. In fact, there is a significant preportion of the population that, in spite of having two awesome working eyes, are stereoblind and incapable of gathering depth information by comparing the info from each eye. Funniest part, its so trivial that most stereoblind people dont realize it and live thier lives unaffected.
8 & 9. Okay, so these are mostly true as well sparing going into the crazy scientific details. Fortunately, your camcorder cant later change the depiction of the events it has recorded.
If your interested in getting detailed info on these search google scholar or nature.org and they will have “review” articles that try to explain latest cutting edge info on any of these topics in laymans terms. Interesting stuff to be learned!
May 5th, 2009
Russ
The last bit about saying something and then waiting a few seconds for the message to replay itself happens to me and the people I talk to a lot. I have a friend who often describes memories that didn’t actually ever happen when trying to make a point. Photographic memory my ass!
May 11th, 2009
Qewds
Interesting…. Sources?
May 16th, 2009
Bunnygotblog
Fascinating article.
Jun 4th, 2009
Andrew
Fascinating. I especially liked the part about subconsciousness being “smarter” because I’ve seen similar things happen myself. I would get the best ideas when not thinking about them actively.
Jun 6th, 2009
Dessdo
Great post! I study psychology, so I had heared about most of these things, but still.
lsaul: You say you can improve youre IQ. This is NOT the fact. There is a small range wich you can move between (e.g. 95-105 IQ), but in general it stays relatively the same compared to peers throughout you lifespan. Yes, as you say, the brain can grow and get bigger in some places, e.g. studies has shown that London taxi-drivers has a greater posterior hippocampus bilateral than others. Hippocampus is a brainarea that is important in creating mental maps. BUT this does NOT mean that the IQ imporves. It has actually shown that most people with greate expertise in one field, e.g. flowers or pharmacy, does not have a greater avarage IQ.
So its important to distinguish between “knowledge” and “IQ” per se.
Jun 6th, 2009
Gaurav Mardikar
Nice one this was……………..
Really kool facts of a thing called BRAIN…..which a person really have, but he CAN’T show it any how!!! LoL……
If you really have brain, then show it to me………….!
LoL…..
facebook . com/mardikar
Jun 26th, 2009
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