Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA08579 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 31 Oct 2001 13:39:22 GMT Message-ID: <49AB9D0C6521D84ABD017BF83CDF44C4013F5C5C@xch1.ucc.ie> From: "Ryan, Angela" <ar@ucc.ie> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Study shows brain can learn without really trying Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 13:34:13 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by mail4.ucc.ie id f9VDYHY32074 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Anecdotal also; but I remember having huge difficulty understanding Jacques
Lacan's Ecrits until I started reading a chapter casually whilst knitting
baby clothes; patterns of meaning just seemed to fall into place because the
front of my mind was occupied. I believe (but with no specialist knowledge)
that this appears in Zen beliefs.
Angie
ar@ucc.ie
Dr A.M.T. Ryan Agrégée de l'Université,
Department of French,
National University of Ireland, Cork,
Ireland.
telephone + 353 21 4902552
facsimile + 353 21 4903284
-----Original Message-----
From: Vincent Campbell [mailto:v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 10:34 AM
To: 'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'
Subject: RE: Study shows brain can learn without really trying
Hi,
There was a report on this in New Scientist recently. I can't remember what
it said (having read it through my peripheral vision :-)), so I'll dig it
out. I don't recall much talk of subliminal learning, so much as ability to
gain information whilst in a relaxed state brought about by focusing on
something else (TV, music etc.).
I think their line was more like that weird sensation you get (this may be a
delusion I don't know) of being able to play a computer game better whilst
having a conversation with someone else, and concentrating more on the
conversation. I have found, on occasion, that I"ve managed to get high
scores whilst talking to someone about something entirely unrelated to the
game I'm playing (you can tell I work hard at my job can't you!).
It's probably just a self delusion though, as most pro sports people talk
about getting into the zone, where they get a kind of tunnel vision, not
hearing the crowd etc. etc.
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Wade T.Smith
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 10:29 pm
> To: Memetics Discussion List
> Subject: Fwd: Study shows brain can learn without really trying
>
> I'm not sure, at all, that this study makes any claim for 'subliminal'
> learning, (although I'm sure that fraud's proponents will bark that it
> does), in fact, it appears only to ascertain to pattern-recognition and
> other unconscious perceptions. My favorite question for people to show
> this sort of thing, is, when looking at the moon, to ask them if it's
> getting bigger or smaller- this would seem to me to be the sort of thing
> that only gets picked up 'unconsciously', unless one were semi-serious
> about their moon-gazing, which most people aren't. Although, the
> mentioned 'next song on the album' trick is a good one.
>
>
> - Wade
>
> ****************
>
> Study shows brain can learn without really trying
>
> By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff, 10/30/2001
>
> http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/303/science/Study_shows_brain_can_learn_
> w
> ithout_really_tryingP. shtml
>
> Coach potatoes who aspire to intellectual greatness may have some hope: A
> new study shows a person can focus on one thing - say TV - and soak up
> other information on the side without even trying.
>
> Whether they can pick up something as complex as Shakespeare or a foreign
> language awaits more study. Still, a Boston University researcher this
> week found that people absorb information in their peripheral vision -
> they can even acquire a low-level skill - while focused entirely on
> something else.
>
> The findings, which appeared in Nature magazine this week, go further
> than previous research in showing just what the human brain can learn
> without consciously trying.
>
> ''Even when our mind is not paying attention to extraneous information,
> it ends up processing it,'' said Takeo Watanabe, a researcher in the
> Boston University psychology department.
>
> In his study, 72 young adults, ranging in age from 19 to 25, were asked
> to look at a computer and identify letters that flashed rapidly across
> the screen. Next to half of the participants sat a separate screen,
> displaying gray dots, much like the visual snow on a television set with
> bad reception. Unbeknownst to the subjects, 5 percent of the gray dots
> were moving in the same direction, a pattern that was barely discernable
> to the naked eye.
>
> Later, both groups were tested on their ability to look at a television
> screen and detect any pattern of moving dots. The group that only had one
> screen within their field of vision could not detect moving dots, even
> when 10 percent marched in the same direction. But everyone in the group
> who had been exposed to the peripheral screen of moving dots had an
> enhanced ability to detect a pattern.
>
> ''It means they learned something without being conscious of it,''
> Watanabe said.
>
> Only further study will show, however, if the subliminal learning came at
> a cost to the main task, answering questions such as: If a teenager
> writes a book report while peripherally seeing French vocabulary words,
> will the quality of his or her paper suffer?
>
> Researchers in the field say that's a key question, one that will help
> ordinary people figure out whether they should seek out - or avoid - a
> split-screen learning environment.
>
> ''Is there a cost to this?'' said Daniel Schacter, a psychology professor
> at Harvard University. ''You'd think there would be, but it's hard to
> guess this one.''
>
> Past work in the area of subliminal or implicit learning focused on what
> the brain picked up without trying to, though the extraneous information
> usually related to the main task.
>
> Examples of this include a driver knowing just what song will play next
> on the car's tape player, not because of a conscious attempt to learn the
> order but because they just heard the sequence so many times, said Marcel
> Just, codirector of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie
> Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa.
>
> Watanabe said he hopes to learn more about just what kinds of skills can
> be picked up in a subliminal way, and if they can enter the brain through
> other channels, such as listening.
>
> Regardless of the future role of implicit learning, Watanabe said this
> kind of learning has long helped the human species survive. He said, for
> instance, that someone could walk down a street while talking to a friend
> and implicitly pick up that cars are driving in a particular direction.
> While paying attention only to the conversation, part of the brain is
> ''sensitized'' to the direction of the cars to avoid an accident, he said.
>
> ''Without that knowledge, we'd be in much more danger,'' he said.
>
> Patricia Wen can be reached by
>
> e-mail at wen@globe.com.
>
> This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 10/30/2001.
> (c) Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
>
>
>
> ==============================================================This was
> distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
>
-- The University of Stirling is a university established in Scotland by charter at Stirling, FK9 4LA. Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not disclose, copy or deliver this message to anyone and any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. In such case, you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply email. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of the University of Stirling shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Oct 31 2001 - 13:44:52 GMT