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This App Trains You to See Farther

popularmechanics.com

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Re: This App Trains You to See Farther

#22

Post by [deleted] »

maaaats wrote: post #11
[deleted] wrote: post #2

[deleted]

Have you heard about the McCollough[1] effect? Check the URL, it's an image you can look at for a few minutes, and it will change the way you process images for several hours. For me it lasted days. And it's all in the brain. http://www.cheswick.com/ches/projects/me/

[deleted]

Re: This App Trains You to See Farther

#23

Post by ambler0 »

maaaats wrote: post #11
[deleted] wrote: post #2

[deleted]

Have you heard about the McCollough[1] effect? Check the URL, it's an image you can look at for a few minutes, and it will change the way you process images for several hours. For me it lasted days. And it's all in the brain. http://www.cheswick.com/ches/projects/me/

Thanks for this (I think - I'm still under the effect...)

Re: This App Trains You to See Farther

#24

Post by nairteashop »

[deleted] wrote: post #22
maaaats wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you heard about the McCollough[1] effect? Check the URL, it's an image you can look at for a few minutes, and it will change the way you process images for several hours. For me it lasted days. And it's all in the brain. http://www.cheswick.com/ches/projects/me/

[deleted]

I think the point others are making is that unlike, say, your height, "vision" is actually a combination of raw input from the eyes, and the subsequent processing of that input by the brain.

Therefore vision can be improved by making the eyes better - contact lens, lasik, etc - or by making the brain better - presumably what this app is doing.

A (very poor!) analogy would be how you you can use post-processing in software to capture better images, even without changing out the lens or the camera. Upgrading the algorithms in the software will result in better images.

Note that I'm pretty skeptical of the claims as well, but I also acknowledge that this falls within the realm of possibility. About to download the app so I can verify for myself...

Re: This App Trains You to See Farther

#25

Post by pohl »

maaaats wrote: post #11
[deleted] wrote: post #2

[deleted]

Have you heard about the McCollough[1] effect? Check the URL, it's an image you can look at for a few minutes, and it will change the way you process images for several hours. For me it lasted days. And it's all in the brain. http://www.cheswick.com/ches/projects/me/

Fascinating. I couldn't get it to work for me. Maybe I didn't gaze long enough at the color images. Or maybe it's my introversion:

"One paper found that it is stronger in extroverts than introverts, and might be a reliable test for extroversion."

Re: This App Trains You to See Farther

#26

Post by tzs »

[deleted] wrote: post #17
baddox wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can get better at reading by practicing reading. No physical changes to the eye are necessary.

[deleted]

> Reading is a mental process, whereas vision begins with a physical stimulus

Key word here is begins. The input from the eyes is fed to a complicated signal processing system, and vision is the output of that system.

Re: This App Trains You to See Farther

#27

Post by baddox »

[deleted] wrote: post #17
baddox wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can get better at reading by practicing reading. No physical changes to the eye are necessary.

[deleted]

Reading is a subset of recognizing objects. Practicing reading makes you better at recognizing written language. This app lets you practice recognizing Gabor stimuli, which makes you better at recognizing a wide range of physical objects.
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