On perception

Submitted by sifaan on Wed, 10/01/2008 - 01:36

I recently came across a few facts on how sensitive our perceptions can be:

If our physical senses are working normally, we can:

  • See a burning candle from 28 miles away (if you are dark-adapted)
  • Feel on your fingertips a pressure that depresses your skin .00004 inch
  • Smell one drop of perfume diffused through a three room apartment
  • Distinguish among more than 300,000 different colors
  • Accurately gauge the direction of a sound based on a .00003-second difference in its arrival from one ear to another

At the same time, we often block our sensitivity and limit ideas for improvement - because we already know "The Answers". Confirmation Bias is such a wonderful thing isn't it :P ?

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