The Science Behind Motion Blindness
The curious brain disorder known as Akinetopsia
If you place your hand at the back of your head, right above the nape of your neck, you’ll be positioned on top of your occipital lobe. This lobe is your visual processing center and one of the four main parts of your brain.
Of course, there’s a lot guarding that part of the soft organ that makes you able to have visual perception.
When we have the experience of seeing, there are complex calculations and processes happening behind the scenes. This has led some scientists to argue that we are all mathematicians, whether we know it or not.
After all, when a driver looks at that turn she’s about to make on a winding road, her mind is subconsciously calculating angles to help her decide when and how much to turn the steering wheel.
One very significant part of your visual experience is the ability to perceive motion. This is tied to the difference between “how much” and “how many”.
When you calculate the number of X items, movement is not really involved in that calculation. For example, right now my desk is covered…