Monday, September 30, 2013
Just an afterimage
NPR has a light-hearted feature on cellphone phantom vibration. They interview a shrink who explains it as something like OCD.
Nonsense. It's just an afterimage. Same thing as when you look at this
for a while, then close your eyes and see this.
With cellphones it's a sort of second-level afterimage, produced by some kind of bandpass filter or 'feature detector' inside the brain. The detector gets activated by a frequency range, and when the real input stops, the detector continues to give a signal.
Vibrational afterimages are perfectly familiar to people who work with tools. When you've been running an electric drill or jigsaw for a while, your arms continue to feel vibration. When you've been leaning against a washing machine, your hips and legs continue to feel vibration.
= = = = =
Artistic serendipitous sidenote: The original picture is filled with apricot colors, and the afterimage picture is filled with plum colors!
for a while, then close your eyes and see this.
With cellphones it's a sort of second-level afterimage, produced by some kind of bandpass filter or 'feature detector' inside the brain. The detector gets activated by a frequency range, and when the real input stops, the detector continues to give a signal.
Vibrational afterimages are perfectly familiar to people who work with tools. When you've been running an electric drill or jigsaw for a while, your arms continue to feel vibration. When you've been leaning against a washing machine, your hips and legs continue to feel vibration.
= = = = =
Artistic serendipitous sidenote: The original picture is filled with apricot colors, and the afterimage picture is filled with plum colors!Labels: Danbo
¶ 5:05 PM
