Our vision is delayed.
FIFTEEN SECONDS. THAT’S YOUR BRAIN’S REFRESH RATE, according to a new study looking at the lag in processing visual stimuli. Today, we look at how our brain constantly uploads visual stimuli, including our social media feeds.
“If our brains were always updating in real-time, the world would be a jittery place with constant fluctuations in shadow, light, and movement, and we’d feel like we were hallucinating all the time.”
These are the observations of the senior author, David Whitney, of a recent study. He serves as Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley (USA).
Visual processing: Change blindness
Drs. Mauro Manassi and David Whitney wanted to understand better why we don’t notice subtle changes that occur over time; for example, do you see the differences between actors and their stunt doubles?
They figured it out: The researchers recruited 100 participants through a crowdsourcing platform. Subjects viewed close-ups of faces morphing according to ages or gender in 30-second time-lapse videos.
After the subjects watched the video, Manassi and Whitney asked them to identify the face that they had viewed. Surprisingly, the participants almost always chose a frame they viewed halfway through the video instead of the final one (the most updated image).
The brain is not constantly updating the images in real-time. Instead, it looks to the past, as the past is a good predictor of the future. This method is fast and efficient. In essence,
The brain operates with a slight delay when processing visual stimuli.
Change blindness implications
Study author Manassi points out some implications of this delay:
“The delay is great for preventing us from feeling bombarded by visual input in everyday life, but it can also result in life-or-death consequences when surgical precision is needed.”
He offers these examples: “Radiologists screen for tumors and surgeons need to be able to see what is in front of them in real-time; if their brains are biased to what they saw less than a minute ago, they might miss something.”
My take
Pretty cool, this brain time machine that consolidates our visual input every 15 seconds into one overarching impression. I can go through my day seeing vast quantities of visual information without dealing with each bit at the moment.
Thank you for joining me today in this brief exploration of how our vision is delayed. Please go to the post on Medium.com to see some videos of how the process works:
Related posts:
The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.
