| |
Abstract:
As we walk along a sidewalk, various forms of sensory
information from our visual input, sound, swinging arms and
contact between our feet and pavement somehow synthesize into a
sequence of coherent experiences. Although we take this for
granted, exactly how the brain accomplishes this synchronization
is not well understood. For example neural conduction time from
the sensory neurons of our feet, legs and spinal cord would seem
to deliver information about our feet contacting the pavement
significantly after visual and auditory experience of the same
events. Bergenheim et al. (ref) studied this problem and
concluded that the brain somehow compensates by jiggling sensory
input to provide a proper frame for timed events. A related
problem is how we account for our rapid responses that seem to
occur before we are actually conscious of them. In fast-paced
activities such as Ping-Pong, and rapid-fire conversation we seem
to act almost reflexively, with conscious appreciation lagging
slightly behind our seemingly conscious actions (Gray, Penrose).
How is this possible?
Full text of Introduction
|
