^Brain farts indeed. What's more, flatulence is the usual state of affairs for the brain, it's just that most of the time they don't smell so we don't notice.
Ghostly Encounters
- Thread starter EmoBorg
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I didn't. What's the story on that?
It's called saccadic masking. Basically, our eyes can move more quickly than we can comfortably handle. When a saccade (an extremely fast eye movement) occurs, the image the eye picks up is, obviously, blurred. The blurred image is cut off from being received and processed by the brain -- you are effectively blind to it (the eye can be functioning perfectly, but an individual is blind if the brain is not receiving or processing signals from it). The brain then fills in the gaps by, well, making shit up. Saccades only last a few microseconds, but it adds up.
Thanks.
I don't attest to its veracity, but this is interesting, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccadic_masking#Illusions_caused_by_saccadic_masking:
I don't attest to its veracity, but this is interesting, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccadic_masking#Illusions_caused_by_saccadic_masking:
^Interesting! I'd never heard of that illusion before.
There's another phenomenon: lying on my back, time goes by slower than lying on my side.
I personally experience the stopped clock illusion; I was actually somewhat disturbed by it, when I first noticed it.
Interesting phenomenon, this saccadic masking. However, the scope is within microseconds. The brain "fills in" the gaps or unusable data by interpolating from the boundaries of the useful data. It could be considered a momentary "illusion", but it's constructed based on real data. Thus, it's not a completely false image. Are there errors to be had? Sure. But a complete fabrication of something that was not there? Sustained for more than several seconds? I don't think saccadic masking applies in this case.
I never said, nor did I even allude that it did apply in this case. I was using it as an example of how inaccurate our perceptions are.
I have a problem when people claim that any sort of claim of supernatural experience is some sort of hallucination. I definitely do know that some, maybe even most ghost stories are probably just hallucinations or dreams, but there are some experiences that can't be explained away like that.
When more than one person experiences something undeniably supernatural, at the same time in the same way... and there is no way to call it a dream or hallucination, what do you say, then? And I'm not talking about two people seeing a shadow in the corner of their eyes and assuming it's a ghost. I'm talking real, creepy stuff here.
No drugs involved. :P
When more than one person experiences something undeniably supernatural, at the same time in the same way... and there is no way to call it a dream or hallucination, what do you say, then? And I'm not talking about two people seeing a shadow in the corner of their eyes and assuming it's a ghost. I'm talking real, creepy stuff here.
No drugs involved. :P
What are your defining parameters for "undeniably supernatural"? Because I've never encountered anything, personally or second-hand that is "undeniably supernatural." I've encountered things that I can't explain, but that's not the same thing. Can you give an example of the kind of experience of which you speak? There are numerous natural and reasonable explanations for why many people may share a "supernatural experience."
My father got frail in his late 70s and held onto the furniture a lot when he walked to steady himself. He also became incontinent, so my mother banished him from their shared full size bed to one of the twin beds in my old bedroom. He fell one day and lay on the floor until mom came home from work (she worked into her 80s) and found him. He had to go to the hospital where he died. After leaving the hospital, I went to stay with mom to keep her company and guess where she had me sleep? I was lying there on my side in the newly made bed, going over in my mind all the things we needed to do, the funeral, the casket, etc, when I felt the bed ease down by the back of my knees. Then it let up and eased down by my hip. My heart started to race and I told myself to turn over and look. But I couldn't move. then the bed let up and eased down by by arm. I was really going to turn over and look but didn't really want to see anything. There were no pets in the house, my mother didn't sleep walk... so I finally flipped over and there was nothing there. I know that I wasn't asleep, but I also know that you all will come up with all sorts of creative explanations.
I've heard that some mattresses spontaneously compress themselves.
About three years ago I was stuck in the Intensive Care Unit for a few days. Naturally, being ill enough to be in the ICU I was already on alert for any suspicious symptoms, physical or mental. When the bed started moving of it's own accord near my knee, compressing, I totally freaked -- I thought I was hallucinating. Then it decompressed and the same happened in my back, later under my butt, and my other leg. Of course it was just a special mattress designed to inflate and deflate in order to prevent bedsores, and I realized this on my own fairly quickly, but I'd never heard of them before so it definitely startled me!
I've been in the hospital frequently enough (with ill family members) to know that hospital beds often shift up and down, elevating your legs and hips and upper back. In fact, patients can manually control the position and height of their beds, which I assume are very similar to Posture-Pedic or Tempur-Pedic mattresses.
^Oh, I was familiar with that kind of mattress, of course. This kind is very different. It has little balloon like pockets in various positions that inflate and deflate automatically, it's not the old-fashioned raise the back or legs type (though it has that function as well). Believe me, I've been in and out of the hospital my whole life, so I was very familiar with a typical hospital bed.
^They're called low air loss mattresses, and they're absolutely heavenly. 
^But they can afford quite a shock to a critically ill patient who's not expecting it! 
ETA: I doubt this is the case, but as Velocity's granddad was an older, ailing man, perhaps he had one that she was unaware of? Probably not, but if he did: mystery solved!
ETA: I doubt this is the case, but as Velocity's granddad was an older, ailing man, perhaps he had one that she was unaware of? Probably not, but if he did: mystery solved!
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