Abstractions

摘要

Have you ever noticed that when you buy, say, a red convertible, every other car on the road suddenly seems to be a red convertible? According to findings by Marius Peelen and his colleagues in the psychology department of Princeton University in New Jersey, neural mechanisms in the visual cortex are responsible for the phenomenon. When the researchers tested neural responses in the visual cortices of volunteers who had been instructed to look for certain objects in photographs that flashed up on a screen, they discovered that people are extremely adept at spotting objects of interest, even in situations in which the items are difficult to find (see page 94). He tells Nature why.