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Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

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The <strong>Mind</strong>'s Eye 267The shape at <strong>the</strong> top right flips between looking like a square and lookinglike a diamond, depending on whe<strong>the</strong>r you mentally group it with <strong>the</strong>three shapes to its left or <strong>the</strong> eight shapes below. The imaginary linesaligned with <strong>the</strong> rows of shapes have become Cartesian referenceframes—one frame aligned with <strong>the</strong> retinal up-down, <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r tilteddiagonally—-and a shape looks different when it is mentally describedwithin one or <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r.And in case you are still skeptical about all <strong>the</strong>se colorless, odorless,and tasteless reference frames allegedly overlaying <strong>the</strong> visual field, I giveyou a wonderfully simple demonstration from <strong>the</strong> psychologist FredAttneave. What is going on in <strong>the</strong> triangles on <strong>the</strong> left: 1Look at <strong>the</strong>m long enough, and <strong>the</strong>y snap from one appearance toano<strong>the</strong>r. They don't move around, <strong>the</strong>y don't reverse in depth, but somethingchanges. People describe <strong>the</strong> change as "which way <strong>the</strong>y point."What is leaping around <strong>the</strong> page is not <strong>the</strong> triangles <strong>the</strong>mselves but amental frame of reference overlaying <strong>the</strong> triangles. The frame comes notfrom <strong>the</strong> retina, <strong>the</strong> head, <strong>the</strong> body, <strong>the</strong> room, <strong>the</strong> page, or gravity, butfrom an axis of symmetry of <strong>the</strong> triangles. The triangles have three suchaxes, and <strong>the</strong>y take turns dominating. Each axis has <strong>the</strong> equivalent of anorth and a south pole, which grant <strong>the</strong> feeling that <strong>the</strong> triangles arepointing. The triangles flip en masse, as if in a chorus line; <strong>the</strong> brain likesits reference frames to embrace entire neighborhoods of shapes. The trianglesin <strong>the</strong> right diagram are even more jumpy, hopping among siximpressions. They can be interpreted ei<strong>the</strong>r as obtuse triangles lying flaton <strong>the</strong> page or as right-angle triangles standing in depth, each with a referenceframe that can sit three ways.

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