Motion Commotion

### Cold Open

Jason Silva: "Our word moves faster and faster every day. And our brains are constantly interpreting the motion around us. Whether we're running, flying, driving. Now try to imagine a world without motion... No airplanes. No roller coasters. No sunrises. Luckilly, you don't have to because our world is literally always in motion. And our brain's ability to perceive motion is crucial to our survival. But it's also so basic, you probably never even have to think about it. "

### Questions

But do you think you could ever see motion with your ears?

## Games

### Game #1: Blue Ovals

Are these blue ovals moving?

Result: To you, yes. But in reality, no.

Why: This is an autokinetic image. How it can appear to be moving if it's static? The image is made up of individual elements that go from light to dark and vice versa. This pattern triggers motion detectors and makes you see motion whether are not you want to.

Let's try again with big sharp circles.

Result: Moving back and forth makes you see motion.

Why: Your visual cortex is designed to detect and see motion whether you want to or not. Every time you watch television or movies, your brain is tricked into seeing motion that isn't really there. Still images are strung together very quickly. This is called Apparent Motion. Our brains Evolved to detect Apparent Motion.

### Game #2: Swimmers

Are these ovals in the background moving?

Result: To you, yes. But once again, they're not really moving.

Now we eliminate the background.

Result: The ovals no longer move. We didn't change the image except remove the background.

Why: Changes in contrast(the gradient) and a repeating pattern of light in dark makes you brain detect motion. The orienting response, which means if anything moves within our field of vision, we feel compelled to look at it.

#### Mini-Game: Strip the Motion

Apollo tricks people on the las vegas strip. He'll use a coin. Keep track of the coin.

Result: Apollo is able to trick volunteers by moving his hands. He also takes advantage of your peripheral vision.

Why: While your entire eye is designed to track motion, your peripheral vision is much more sensitive to motion.

### Game #3: Stars

Look at two stars. Then look at other star with your peripheral vision.

Result: By looking at the yellow star, the other one seems to move in the opposite direction the dots around the yellow star.

Why: Because of gradients, and your peripheral vision can't handle too much motion at once.

### Game #4: Hear the Motion

Did the balls bounce off each other or pass through each other.

Result: Volunteers have mixed opinions.

How: By adding a sound effect, the volunteers think the balls bounce off each other. The sound changes the motion you perceive.

### Game #5: Strike Three!

Count how many baseballs were curving and how many were going straight?

Result: When you look at the player, they curve. When you look at the ball, they're straight.

How: Much like Game #3, the shading sends different signals. You only notice the straightness when you look at the ball with central vision.

### Game #6: Expectations

Grab a poker chip while you bounce a ball.

Result: By replacing a bouncy ball with a dead one, he leads you astray and flips your expectations on you.

#### Mini-Game: Speed Test

How fast are you moving right now?

A. 0 kph

B. 97 kph

C. 108000 kph

It's c. The earth moves around the sun fast. But you never notice it because our brains are accustomed to it.

## List of Experts

* Dr. Arthur Shapiro
* Apollo Robins(Deception Specialist)