The Trapdoors of Perception - Expectations, Projections and Filters

The Dress

Back in 2015, a photograph called “The Dress” became an internet sensation. Some people saw it as white and gold, others saw it as blue and black.

When I first saw it, I was 100% sure it was white and gold. My eyes work just fine. How could anyone possibly see blue and black?

Well, it turns out that the original color of the dress was actually blue and black. But through lighting and photography techniques, the dress could be made to be seen white and gold. Scientists call this phenomena Chromatic Adaptation

You can read the full story about the dress Here

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Audio Perceptions – I Called for 'Yanny', but 'Laurel' Came Instead

Now, just recently, some variations on the above perceptual theme have emerged. This time it involves audio perception, or “what word do you hear”

The first that went viral is the “Yanny – Laurel” debate. You can listen to a loop of this sound clip below-

Video – Immortal Joe YouTube

When I first heard this sound, I could only hear “Yanny”. It turns out this phenomena depends on the pitch that the clip plays at, and the ‘age’ of your ears. By changing the pitch, one could either hear “Yanny or Laurel”.

The video below gives a demonstration and explanation –

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Video – AsapSCIENCE YouTube

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Scott Adams - Two Movies, One Screen

The above examples of variations in visual and audio signal perception may seem like just a novelty, something fun to play with. But actually, there can be serious consequences. Cartoonist and writer Scott Adams has a good take on this -

Open Mind YouTube

Adams does a very good job of explaining how it is so easy for many of us to hear the same words, but distort their meaning. And how this often has serious political and societal implications.

He mentions in particular what has become known as ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’, a tragic, seemingly incurable affliction, that causes Trump-haters to criticize him, no matter what the situation or event.

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An Experience in Perceptual Hallucination

All this got me to thinking about my own life, and situations and incidents and relationships that left me confused or feeling angry or misunderstood.

I recall an incident from some years ago. In my job I supervised a few dozen people. Each morning, the team leaders would come to my office for a short meeting to clarify the day’s activities, and to sort out any issues.

One day, one such person came in, and after we talked, he said he was going to the field. So I responded, “Okay, have fun!” I didn’t use this term all the time, just once in a while.

He turned to me, face red, and proceeded to yell at me and curse me for mocking him, for making fun of him. I was stunned. To me, “Have fun” in this context was synonymous with “Have a nice day” or “Take care” So why was he screaming at me in rage?

Image - Pixabay - geralt

So there we were, just feet apart in the same room. Him looking at me like I was some cruel mocker and torturer. Me looking at him, like he was some sort of psychotic idiot with anger issues.

The next day he came back to my office and sheepishly apologized. It seems after his tantrum, he had gone to ask others the meaning of “have fun”.

You see, he was not a native English-speaker, it was his second language. Although he could speak it fairly well, he did not grow up naturally learning English idiomatic usage or colloquialisms. On the other hand, I was a native speaker.

When he heard “Have fun”, in his mind he was thinking, “fun?? I’m going to do a hard job that is not fun! Why is he making fun of my work? Damn him, he doesn’t respect me!” Then boom! The hysterical tantrum.

I was saying, “Take care friend!” He was hearing, “Fuck-off loser!”

And that was the source of the incident. I had background and context, he didn’t. At the same time, I did not even consider his lack of context. It was a lesson for me. Even at the time, I was shocked that such a simple misunderstanding like that could lead to a situation that almost ended up in a physical fight.

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What Can this Mean for You and Me?

For me personally, I was raised in a family that had parents full of criticism, and usually baseless guilt accusations thrown at us children. As I grew up, it was very hard for me to accept any kind of criticism, because of my experience as a child, and the defense mechanisms I had constructed.

I was one of those people who took many things personally, a sign of an unhealthy ego. So to me, even the most gentle and constructive criticism was interpreted as an attack on my self-worth, and even my life itself. Yes, it can get that serious.

The people offering the advice thought they were being constructive, helpful, caring, and even loving. Yet all I could hear was someone telling me I had done something wrong, that I was ‘guilty’. Of course, this was a childish and unhealthy response.

It was years before I rid myself of this projection, this filter through which I viewed the world.

Image - Pixabay - geralt

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The Dangers of Rigid Ideologies and Religions

It’s also made me more aware of the danger of ideologies, those filters by which people have killed others by the millions. Between Communism and Fascism, the 20th Century was a horror show. See Communism and WWII Deaths

The same can apply to fervent believers of a particular religion. If you believe, you are good, if you don’t you are evil.

Rigid ideologies of any kind force us to perceive the world through unforgiving filters. Tragedy normally ensues.

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Removing the Filters

So after the dress, and the ‘Yanny or Laurel’ etc., I’m trying to re-evaluate my impressions and interpretations of words, sights and events. To see if I am using an old filter.

To see if I am literally hallucinating something that is not even there. I think it would be better to live based on objective assessment of actual sensory input, and not on some auto-pilot. As far as that is possible anyway. I think it would be enlightening.

Image - Pexels

What about you? Have you had such experiences, where it seemed that you and others were having a ‘same planet, different worlds’ type of moment?

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Image at top of post - Pixabay - kellepics