Why do some people hear “yanny” and others hear “laurel”? Is that dress blue and black or is it white and gold? Are you actually aware of everything going on around you? Join us at taste of science to discover the answers to these questions and more! Through hands-on demonstrations and illusions, we’ll learn how the brain processes sensory information to generate your perception of the world around you and why you only perceive and remember surprisingly little of this information.
Ticket includes a taste perception journey!
Jarrod Hicks
PhD student, MIT
Perceiving the world around us
We enjoy and experience the world around us through our senses, each of which has a specialized biological sensor to measure signals from our environment and transmit this information to dedicated brain areas. Our ultimate sensory experience is a product of both the fidelity of our sensory receptors and our brain’s ability to interpret incoming sensory information. I will highlight the difference between these two processes of sensation and perception through sensational demos and illusions.
Dr Michael A. Cohen
Postdoc, MIT
You often look but do not see
This talk will focus on how you perceive and remember astonishingly little of the world around you. Every moment of your life, incredible amounts of information pass you buy to hilarious (and sometimes tragic) effect. Here, I'll explain how and why your brain can't process all the information in the world and what you can do to increase your awareness of your environment.
Event information:
Doors open at 6:00pm, and our event kicks off at 6:15pm.
Ticket costs are a donation to our non-profit Scientists Inc., thank you for contributing the science outreach in your area!
No cash will be accepted at the door, so be sure to buy ahead of time or bring your debit or credit card with you!
In the event of any last-minute event cancellations, we will post an announcement on our webpage, Facebook, and Twitter.
If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events, please email us at boston@tasteofscience.org.