Guess what: your brain is totally messing you… even as we speak.
It turns out our brains are some amazing pranksters. Seriously, the amount of things we tune out or dream up without ever realizing it on a daily basis is actually pretty crazy. In fact, you’re probably doing it right now.
I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore!
1.) Searching for patterns that don’t exist.
In 2008, Science Magazine published a study where participants were able to “see” things in TV static when they were feeling a loss of control with the world around them.
2.) Working against you in finding your own typos.
While reading, our brains don’t register every letter on a regular basis. The more familiar you are with something, like your own work, the more your brain skips over bits and pieces to get to the gist of things.
3.) Words start to sound meaningless when said over and over again.
Known as “semantic satiation,” this mental phenomenon has been studied since the early 1900s.
4.) Remembering things that didn’t actually happen.
“False memories” can be planted in our brain just by using the right inference, which is what makes witness testimonies a tricky thing.
5.) Believing your horoscope is specifically about you.
Known as the “Forer effect,” it’s named after Bertram Forer who uncovered this uncanny feeling of reliability when it comes to blanket, vague statements like in a horoscope.
6.) Having a song stuck in your head.
This can be triggered by a number of things such as the obvious repeated exposure to a song, or having a person, situation, or feeling remind you of a certain catchy tune for your brain to fixate on.
7.) Seeing, hearing, smelling or tasting something that isn’t there.
Hallucinations are more common that you might think, regardless of how you spent your time in the 1960s. They’re most common in people with sleep disorders, occurring while trying to fall asleep or just waking up. Ever jolt awake from half-asleep because you felt like you were falling?
8.) Allowing the color of your food affect the way it tastes.
Your mind communicates with your taste buds based on the way your food looks, which is probably why this ketchup never took off.
9.) Feeling someone’s pain when you see them get hurt.
Sympathy pains, actually feeling the sensation while watching someone get hurt, really do effect a substantial minority of individuals according to this 2009 study by Pain Journal.
10.) Thinking someone else’s idea is your own.
Known as cryptomnesia, memories get hidden in your mind and cause you to accidentally plagiarize someone else’s idea simply because you forgot they came up with it first like in the case of musician George Harrison unknowingly copying a similar riff in his hit song, “My Sweet Lord.”
11.) Tuning out what your brain doesn’t find important.
If you stare at the green dot in the center long enough, the yellow dots seem to disappear even though nothing is actually changing. Known as “motion-induced blindness,” this is possibly attributed to our brains clashing halves.
(via BuzzFeed.)
At least we’re all slightly crazy together! Share these weird facts with your friends using the buttons below.
