noticed way back, maybe twenty years ago, that when the electric razor fell out the vanity cabinet that even though not looking at it I could catch it or intercept it as it fell unexpectedly out, by way of a sort of reflex action, no apparent thought required at all

it happened numerous times and impressed me every time, a lightning fast reflex of arms and hands to catch something that was in my peripheral vision

it’s an ancient instinctive response, served my ancestors that swung between the tree well i’d guess, those failed ancestors that were slower fell out of the trees, hit the ground with force probably, resulting in less opportunities to procreate

the other day the reflex impressed me again as I nearly dropped the nozzle for the plastic fuel container as attaching it

anyway it crossed my mind briefly that I maybe had another sense, another sense organ, that the hairs on the back of my fingers, hands, and arms could actually detect the movement of objects, that I was specially evolved that way, that I was sensing my surrounds with my body hairs

transition said:

noticed way back, maybe twenty years ago, that when the electric razor fell out the vanity cabinet that even though not looking at it I could catch it or intercept it as it fell unexpectedly out, by way of a sort of reflex action, no apparent thought required at all

it happened numerous times and impressed me every time, a lightning fast reflex of arms and hands to catch something that was in my peripheral vision

it’s an ancient instinctive response, served my ancestors that swung between the tree well i’d guess, those failed ancestors that were slower fell out of the trees, hit the ground with force probably, resulting in less opportunities to procreate

the other day the reflex impressed me again as I nearly dropped the nozzle for the plastic fuel container as attaching it

anyway it crossed my mind briefly that I maybe had another sense, another sense organ, that the hairs on the back of my fingers, hands, and arms could actually detect the movement of objects, that I was specially evolved that way, that I was sensing my surrounds with my body hairs

I think not.
You can react instinctively to a car crash situation from inside your sealed vehicle.

Three cheers to our primate ancestors.
It’s so easy to forget what they’ve done for us.
We never stop and think about all the ground work they did while we make hurry down the street bound up in our pleasure seeking selfish existence.

Tamb said:

transition said:

noticed way back, maybe twenty years ago, that when the electric razor fell out the vanity cabinet that even though not looking at it I could catch it or intercept it as it fell unexpectedly out, by way of a sort of reflex action, no apparent thought required at all

it happened numerous times and impressed me every time, a lightning fast reflex of arms and hands to catch something that was in my peripheral vision

it’s an ancient instinctive response, served my ancestors that swung between the tree well i’d guess, those failed ancestors that were slower fell out of the trees, hit the ground with force probably, resulting in less opportunities to procreate

the other day the reflex impressed me again as I nearly dropped the nozzle for the plastic fuel container as attaching it

anyway it crossed my mind briefly that I maybe had another sense, another sense organ, that the hairs on the back of my fingers, hands, and arms could actually detect the movement of objects, that I was specially evolved that way, that I was sensing my surrounds with my body hairs

I think not.
You can react instinctively to a car crash situation from inside your sealed vehicle.

Peripheral vision is exquisitely tuned to movement. It’s for seeing the tigers moving in the grass before they get you.

buffy said:

Peripheral vision is exquisitely tuned to movement. It’s for seeing the tigers moving in the grass before they get you.

That is highly enlightening. I know that crabs and some other animals have eyesight tuned to detect movement.
Occasionally I wonder if we rely on movement detection so much that, without movement, we would be completely blind.
I’ve had ideas of designing a robot vision system like that – only able to detect relative movement between eye and object. I think it would be extraordinarily useful, and very much faster than vision systems that work by analysing a single frame.

As for the reflex for catching sensed objects seen in peripheral vision – that can be trained. When I worked in a chemical lab, I trained myself to avoid rather than catch anything that was falling, because the catch reflex when working with dangerous chemicals and sharp heavy objects can be exceedingly dangerous.

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

Peripheral vision is exquisitely tuned to movement. It’s for seeing the tigers moving in the grass before they get you.

That is highly enlightening. I know that crabs and some other animals have eyesight tuned to detect movement.
Occasionally I wonder if we rely on movement detection so much that, without movement, we would be completely blind.
I’ve had ideas of designing a robot vision system like that – only able to detect relative movement between eye and object. I think it would be extraordinarily useful, and very much faster than vision systems that work by analysing a single frame.

As for the reflex for catching sensed objects seen in peripheral vision – that can be trained. When I worked in a chemical lab, I trained myself to avoid rather than catch anything that was falling, because the catch reflex when working with dangerous chemicals and sharp heavy objects can be exceedingly dangerous.

Jump away jump away!

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

Peripheral vision is exquisitely tuned to movement. It’s for seeing the tigers moving in the grass before they get you.

That is highly enlightening. I know that crabs and some other animals have eyesight tuned to detect movement.
Occasionally I wonder if we rely on movement detection so much that, without movement, we would be completely blind.
I’ve had ideas of designing a robot vision system like that – only able to detect relative movement between eye and object. I think it would be extraordinarily useful, and very much faster than vision systems that work by analysing a single frame.

As for the reflex for catching sensed objects seen in peripheral vision – that can be trained. When I worked in a chemical lab, I trained myself to avoid rather than catch anything that was falling, because the catch reflex when working with dangerous chemicals and sharp heavy objects can be exceedingly dangerous.

Old optical dispensers automatically put their foot out to stop the fall of anything they drop, because in the days of glass lenses, they smashed. This is, um, not a good reflex for dropping heavier things, like hammers…

:)

buffy said:

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

Peripheral vision is exquisitely tuned to movement. It’s for seeing the tigers moving in the grass before they get you.

That is highly enlightening. I know that crabs and some other animals have eyesight tuned to detect movement.
Occasionally I wonder if we rely on movement detection so much that, without movement, we would be completely blind.
I’ve had ideas of designing a robot vision system like that – only able to detect relative movement between eye and object. I think it would be extraordinarily useful, and very much faster than vision systems that work by analysing a single frame.

As for the reflex for catching sensed objects seen in peripheral vision – that can be trained. When I worked in a chemical lab, I trained myself to avoid rather than catch anything that was falling, because the catch reflex when working with dangerous chemicals and sharp heavy objects can be exceedingly dangerous.

Old optical dispensers automatically put their foot out to stop the fall of anything they drop, because in the days of glass lenses, they smashed. This is, um, not a good reflex for dropping heavier things, like hammers…

:)

I’ve noticed that it’s possible to override the reflex action. There is only a split second to act but it is generally enough.

I presume we are talking about the aquatic ape.

Peak Warming Man said:

I presume we are talking about the aquatic ape.

Yes, robadob.

buffy said:

Tamb said:

transition said:

noticed way back, maybe twenty years ago, that when the electric razor fell out the vanity cabinet that even though not looking at it I could catch it or intercept it as it fell unexpectedly out, by way of a sort of reflex action, no apparent thought required at all

it happened numerous times and impressed me every time, a lightning fast reflex of arms and hands to catch something that was in my peripheral vision

it’s an ancient instinctive response, served my ancestors that swung between the tree well i’d guess, those failed ancestors that were slower fell out of the trees, hit the ground with force probably, resulting in less opportunities to procreate

the other day the reflex impressed me again as I nearly dropped the nozzle for the plastic fuel container as attaching it

anyway it crossed my mind briefly that I maybe had another sense, another sense organ, that the hairs on the back of my fingers, hands, and arms could actually detect the movement of objects, that I was specially evolved that way, that I was sensing my surrounds with my body hairs

I think not.
You can react instinctively to a car crash situation from inside your sealed vehicle.

Peripheral vision is exquisitely tuned to movement. It’s for seeing the tigers moving in the grass before they get you.

Not just movement. We instinctively distinguish between inertial movement and non-inertial movement, categorizing inertial movement as indicative that we are perceiving an “object” that is moving and non-inertial movement as indicative that an “agent” is moving

This has a lot of consequences that might not be immediately obvious. It’s probable, for example, that seeing “ghosts” is the result of the brain confusing non-inertial movement for inertial movement, and so assigning an “agency” to whatever it was that moved that caught our eye where in fact there was only ever an “object”.