We experience the world through our 5 senses, but can we trust them? Our eyes can override what we hear whilst what we smell can influence our spending habits. Check out these 10 surprising reasons you shouldn’t trust your own senses.
When you experience something — see something, smell something, taste something — you have an initial reaction to what you are experiencing. The same goes for when you are presented with two or more options, with a decision to make. Firstly, our intuitive thought presents itself — it’s something that none of us can help; it simply happens. Then we have rational thought or reasoning.
10The McGurk Effect
What you see can override what you hear. In a study, people viewing a crime scene confused the phrase “He´s got your boot” with “he´s gonna shoot”.
09Change Blindness
You can miss changes before your eyes as the brain doesn´t take in all visual stimuli. In a study 50% of people didn´t notice that the person they were giving directions to become someone else mid- conversation. .
08The Size Weight Illusion
The brain can confuse the size of an object and its expected weight. a large box will feel lighter than a small box of equal weight.
07Inattentional Blindness
Inattentional Blindness is inability to see something in plain sight as you are focused on something else. A cop, Kenny Conley, lost his job after he was so focused on chasing a suspect that he failed to notice a violent attack.
06Sniff and Spend
Shops use certain scents to create an emotional connection with their customers. Researches found that shoppers in the presence of an orange scent spent on average 20% more.
05Pinocchio Illusion
Our ability to sense the position of our body parts can be confused by stimulating muscles. Touching your nose while stimulating arm muscles creates a false sensation that your nose is growing.
04Eyes Change the taste of Food
The color of food affects how we taste it. Scientists tricked wine experts into thinking white wine tasted like red wine, just by changing the liquid´s color.
03Nonconscious Process
30 areas in our brain process vision. Mistakes occur when a pattern associated with danger is recognized before we consciously process it. E.g. we can mistake a clump of hair for a spider.
02The Rubber Hand Illusion
Scientists places a rubber hand in front of participants and stroked it simultaneously to their real hand. The rubber hand felt like it belonged to their body and the temperature of their real hand dropped.
01Saccadic Masking
During eye movements the brain ignores what we see so we don´t experience motion blur. Cumulatively this means we are temporarily blind 30-45mins a day -2% of our lives.