Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with perception

Hey, that looks like a face!

Kensational — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:30:41 -0800

Is there a word for the phenomenon of finding faces in abstract shapes or patterns? (more inside) I don't mean religious icons in doors or sandwiches specifically, I mean the phenomenon in general of tending to always notice faces in patterns such as marble floors, etc.

Help me articulate the concept of how unfamiliarity and familiarity alter perception.

DeltaForce — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:11:02 -0800

Help me articulate the concept of how unfamiliarity and familiarity alter perception. I remember when I was about six years old, sitting in a coffee shop in the town where I grew up, and thinking that it looked different from the way it looked the first time I went there. The thing is, at that moment I was able to alter my perception and look at it through new eyes; see it as if I had never seen it before. I remember my surroundings almost physically changing, spatially and conceptually.

I try to do that now, and it's much more difficult. This is something I've always thought about, and had trouble articulating, and I wonder if there is some kind of theory or philosophy of one's visual and conceptual perception of people, places, things, and even ideas being altered by one's level of familiarity, and more so, of the fact that one can't (or maybe one can, sometimes, or some people can) change one's perception from the familiar to unfamiliar.

I would appreciate any links, or books, or ideas, or people that might have anything to do with this.

Thanks!

Help me be more sensuous.

Pineapplicious — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:28:33 -0800

What suggestions do you have to help me be more sensuous? My sense perceptions are less refined than I would like. Some things I'd like to be able to do are to identify specific ingredients in the foods I am eating through taste, to distinguish one instrument from another in the music I am listening to, to judge distance more accurately by sight. As it is now, my perceptions are blunt. I taste food enough to know if I like it or not and can identify spiceness and can identify an overwhelming ingredient, but anything more subtle is lost on me. The same is true in music, distance, etc. I should mention that this lack of refinement is not due to a lack of experience nor any disfunction of my sense organs. What suggestions do you have?

Papa Apu, is that you?

Saxon Kane — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:35:27 -0800

Why can't I, and how can I, hear my dad's accent? My dad moved to the US from India when he was 19. My mom is an all-American white woman. People tell me that my dad has a fairly thick Indian accent, but I don't hear it at all. It's not that I hear it but don't have trouble understanding it; I don't hear it at all, and he sounds just like any other person to me. I can hear the accent of other Indian people, including all my Indian relatives, but I don't have any trouble understanding them. I can also do a pretty decent Indian accent :)

I assume that I can't hear my dad's accent because I grew up with it. But the weird thing is, even if, for example, he calls and I don't know its him on the phone, I still don't hear it. Would it be possible for me to hear his accent if I was somehow surprised by him? Or if I heard his voice somehow distorted so I didn't recognize it as him immediately? Is there any way to get around my brain's auto-correction that turns his voice into something I recognize as "American"?

Tomatofilter: 2% chance I'm crazy; 98% chance something (good) is up with our country's tomatos.

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:28:28 -0800

Tomato question: Did something happen late last Autumn that could have caused low-priced/budget tomatoes in (U.S.) fast-food restaurants and supermarkets to become radically better tasting? My perception of increased quality had a sudden onset, was not chain-specific, not geographically localized, and is shared by a handful of friends. (tl;drers, question is as stated above; the screed below is just the boring details. I suspect that help might come from food/soil/earth scientists, ag-economists, farmers, restaurant suppliers, or some other industry insider. Barring that, I suppose there's an outside chance that help might come in the form of two men in white coats dragging me to a rubber room.)

Last November a friend made a salad with sliced tomatoes that tasted amazing. I asked if she had sprung for some fancy brand or got them from a ritzy store; she said no, that they were the cheapest fresh type at the local chain supermarket. I didn't believe her but thought nothing of it at the time.

Within a few days I ordered a $2 burger at a fast food chain and was treated to a fucking amazing tomato there, as well. The floodgates then opened, and for, say, two weeks following, every tomato I ate (from whichever restaurant or grocery chain), tasted fantastic. At the time I chalked this up to some major regional (I live in St. Louis) supplier (Sysco?) stumbling onto a great shipment or something. Again, thought nothing further of it at the time.

At that point, and for the next 1.5 months, I traveled to: several New England states, Central Texas, and Northern California, eating at dives and fast-food joints for most every meal, and--I shit you not--in perhaps 70% of the meals I consumed was what I will call, for brevity "the SuperTomato".

I feel confident in the stark difference of the two; if you spend any amount of time eating tomatos, I'm betting that you'll agree that the difference between a "bad" and a "good" tomato is about as subtle as the difference between a whisper and a shout. The things I am describing taste like completely different things, it's not just a slight or stepwise increase in quality. I feel entirely confident that in a single-blind taste test I would correctly identify "SuperTomato" from "old-and-busted cheap tomato" 100 times out of 100.

My Question to food/soil/atmospheric scientists, agricultural economists, restaurant buyers and the like: Barring delusion on my part, what could be responsible for a flood of great tomatoes across the country at the bottom-end of the tomato pricing tier? This is either a real phenomenon, or the damndest case of my senses tricking me that I've ever seen.

Confirmation Bias? Maybe... hard to tell, obviously. But I've tried to screen for it at every step. I've asked, say, 8 friends and got 5 blank looks, 1 "yeah, now that you mention it", and 2 soul-piercing, thousand-yard stares of disbelief followed by a "You've noticed it, too?!"

I'm not a gastronome or a foodie or a "supertaster" or anything close. I'm just an average guy who eats average, cheap food. I have always eaten a normal amount of cheap store-bought tomatoes and until this happened, had uniformly normal reactions to them. I have no history of sensory hallucinations, no recent head-trauma, mental illness, or significant lifestyle changes. Please tell me what the fuck is up with my 'maters. Apologies for the length. Thanks.

Glasses make you look ...?

comatose — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:41:25 -0800

How do you perceive people who wear glasses? Do people who wear glasses notice any difference in how people perceive you when you are wearing them vs. not wearing them? Do glasses wearing people appear intellectual, nerdy, authoritative, geeky, friendly, attractive, boring, sophisticated, arrogant, trustworthy, or are you just indifferent?

I am a younger guy with 20/20 vision but for the longest time I have wanted a pair of glasses with clear lenses. Maybe it is just me, but I make some fairly strong (positive) assumptions when I meet or see someone with glasses. Are your convictions about glasses wearing people as strong as mine or do you not even notice?

What are we looking at here?

Holly — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:57:25 -0800

SociologyFilter: "We are living in a society in which our perception is directed almost as often to representations as it is to ‘reality’" (Scott Lash). Any recommended writings on this notion, more recent than Baudrillard and Eco, and preferably with an emphasis on film, will be eagerly devoured.

What color is St. Charles Place in Monopoly?

newper — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:00:23 -0800

What color is St. Charles Place in Monopoly? Recently, my fiancee and I have been playing Monopoly Deal (a bit random and mindless, but entertaining game.) During one of the games, I mentioned that I had all the properties of a certain color. She laughed at the suggestion, even though I had those properties face up in front of me. A brief discussion followed, after which we both agreed that the St. Charles/States/Virginia property set indeed were a certain color; we just differed (significantly IMHO) as to what the actual color was! Several discussions have followed, along with much polling of family and friends, but a conclusive end to the argument has yet to be reached. So as not to taint the hive mind, I will not name any specific colors, but my question for you is this: what is the color of St. Charles Place (Pall Mall, UK Version), in Monopoly?

give me some direction

crazylegs — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:31:09 -0800

Which way is West? Here's a weird one for you all. I have a strong sense of direction, meaning whenever I'm in a location I "see" it in a certain way that identifies east, west, north, and south. However, while it's a strong sense, it's often completely wrong! I've been noticing it a lot lately because I've moved into a house where the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. At least, that's how this sense insists that I see it. Does this happen to you? Does this sense have a name? Is there any way to fix it? I've been living here since February and I still get lost now and then, because I just can't get my mind to fit this place into the surrounding world. I come out of the neighborhood to another place where my sense is accurate, and suddenly the world spins. Freaks me out.

SciFi Story Identification - Body Switching and Mindreading

anthy — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:38:08 -0800

"What science fiction short story is this?" filter. One story about body switching/different perceptions, and another about mindreading. I read these two short science fiction stories probably about a decade ago. I think both were in books rather than magazines - part of science fiction story collections. I don't read too many collections, so they may have even been in the same volume. I've tried googling for various things, but nothing's coming up.

One was about a science experiment that allowed you to perceive things as others did. I don't remember if it was an actual body switch, or just a change in the way you perceived things. I use "perceive" because it wasn't just sight. It was other senses as well.

I remember that other people perceived things in completely different ways...like I think some people saw different colors than others (what was blue to one person would be red to another) and felt different textures. In some cases, things were a lot sharper/more alarming, or softer/brighter. One thing that stood out was a guy who was seeing things from a particular woman's perspective, and I THINK everything was soft and squooshy. This was why she was so optimistic all the time. The guy was horrified.

The other story was about man who could read other people's minds. He was the only one who could do so, and he took full advantage of this. No morals about rummaging around to find things out whatsoever. I believe that he felt he was superior to other people because of this power. At the end of the story, he...either hunted down or bumped into another person (a woman?) who could do the same thing. At first he was excited about this, but then when they were actually in "range" of each other...the story ended with them both screaming "get out of my mind!" at each other telepathically.

It's been a long time, so it's possible that some of these details are wrong.

Anyone know what stories these are, and who wrote them?

Thank you in advance!

Perception is in the eye of the beholder

lgandme0717 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:43:06 -0800

How can you make sure that the way you view yourself is not too far removed from how you're perceived by others? Once in awhile I come to the realization that a friend or family member has an opinion of him- or herself in a way that is completely opposite the way that I (or sometimes others) perceive them. Recently I have experienced that same jarring dissonance in one or two ways, and want to find ways to make sure I'm not deluding myself about my own lifestyle.

One example: An old friend is in his early 40s and has a low-paying government contracting job. He lives with his parents to save money, and as far as I know does not pay rent or contribute to household expenses. He has, in total, perhaps a couple of thousands of dollars in savings to his name. He has no traditional kinds of investments or savings (CDs, an IRA, 401(k), bonds, etc.) Instead, he has put any extra money that he has into a microloan lending site. If he gets a loan paid off, he lends the funds right back out again. Sometimes he has lost money this way. Anyway, he likes to call himself an "angel investor". Whenever I hear him say that I just have to roll my eyes. I see that he likes the cachet of this label, but he's not even living life as a financially independent adult.

A more personal example: As the mom of a young child I like to think that I can provide helpful advice to new moms (when asked!). I find myself weighing in (I'm talking about in real life with acquaintances and friends, not online on sites like AskMeFi) on topics like whether or not children should have TVs in their room to how to deal with a tantrumming toddler at the supermarket. But then I worry that instead of sounding like a wise been-there-done-that resource, I come across as a judgmental know-it-all.

I know it's not really possible to truly know how you present yourself to the rest of the world, and that if I'm talking to two people at once, they might easily each come away with totally different impressions of me, depending on their own experiences or prejudices. But is there some way of thinking about this that can help me give myself a reality check about my own perceptions of myself vs. how I present myself to the world?

Thank you all in advance for your thoughtful responses.

I thought I was the only one who thought I was the only one...

phrontist — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:50:14 -0800

Is there a term for that feeling when you realize someone else notices (or notices in a particular way) something you had never thought of anyone else paying attention to, or viewing similarly? This American Life (the radio show) is a good example of that feeling... kind of "Oh man, I can't believe other people feel that way or notice that" (David Sedaris aims for this, and whether you find him funny seems to depend on whether you react this way to him). This thread, and askmefi in general, is also good example. The humor of many of the Cohen brother's films, in particular The Big Lebowski, seems largely derived from this. Walter, in that film, is not just amusing as an imagined person, but because the coen brothers seem to be saying "isn't it funny how some people are like this". Another example would be when you learn a new word for something you'd never considered other people considering - I felt this way about "phosphenes". Ya know what I mean?

Sounds out of Place

phrontist — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:20:53 -0800

I heard a term somewhere that referred to the modern phenomena of sounds being decoupled from what produces them, in the sense that it's no longer a one-to-one relationship between sound and thing. So whereas previously every time you heard a bark you knew it was a dog, now it could be a TV, a computer, or a robot dog. Likewise, a big professional sound system could sound like almost anything. I think the originator was an academic. I distinctly remembering seeing mention of this on wikipedia once. What was that term? Who coined it?

Go To The Mirror Boy

Tube — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:54:32 -0800

Do you ever perceive another person's face as being the mirror image of what it "ought" to be? I'm assuming that the following is a common experience for virtually everyone; you stand before a mirror side-by-side with someone you know well. To you, you look "normal", but your partner's face looks slightly "wrong".

Obviously this is due to the subtle asymmetry of the human face, and the fact that we almost always see our own face in mirror image, while we see everyone else's face normally.

One gentleman whom I see on a more or less daily basis has initiated a novel perception in me, namely that his face would be more "normal" if it were the mirror image of what I see.

This gentleman is most normal in every way morphologically, and as far as I can tell, has no gross facial asymmetry, as we see with people like Shannon Doherty or Anthony Kiedis.

I wonder if this strange idea has simply fixed itself in my brain starting from a fanciful perception, and has become ingrained through repetition, or if other people besides myself have had this experience.

So the question is; have you ever had a perception about a particular person, or persons, such that their face would look more "normal" in mirror image?

"I am not a man to be moved by a pretty face," muttered Ralph sternly.

prefpara — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:17:48 -0800

Dear doctors, nurses, undertakers, anatomists, and other professional seers of the secrets of the human body: how does your daily interaction with the inner workings of man affect the way you see your friends and lovers? In other words: if, for example, you're a surgeon, do you have a sort of background awareness of what's going on inside the people you interact with outside of the doctor-patient context? Like, if you're just knocking back a beer with your brother, do you have a low-level awareness of what his liver probably looks like based on the livers you've seen and touched? Or are the personal and professional worlds totally separate? Are you aware of any difference in the way you think of or relate to other people's bodies since your medical training began?

Thanks in advance for satisfying my curiosity.

Colour, Resolution, and David Hume.

ageispolis — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:08:06 -0800

To what extent can we discern different colours? What of this power is merely relational (a light blue, a lighter blue)? Have studies been done to determine if our "resolution of discernment" (a particular distance in nanometers of which we can differentiate two visual wavelengths with unaided vision)? What's the difference between how we speak of colour, how we conjure it up in its particularity in our imagination, and how we differentiate it through experience? Many questions and an extended explanation, I know, I know. I considered narrowing this question down but I realize what I want is a broad answer, with specific issues addressed. So perhaps the most helpful answer would be a specific field of inquiry, not a specific journal article.

I imagine both philosophical and scientific approaches will agree that 'it depends on the perceiver' - a colour blind man may have a much lower resolution for differentiating some colours over others. Or are there contemporary arguments suggesting that colour is entirely subjective, any distinguishing factors are relational constructs out of scientific experiments that confuse qualitative experience with quantitative results?

The reason I'm looking for both philosophical and psychological approaches is that the question was stimulated from the beginning of Hume's Essay. There he uses a thought experiment as counterexample to his maxim that our simple ideas are composed out of equivalent simple impressions. He imagines a simple idea produced without a corresponding simple impression: a painter who has knowledge of all the shades of blue but one 'blue' in particular goes ahead and lays out the gradation of blue in front of him as a series of swatches, all except the the shade he has no knowledge of. Hume inquires as to whether the painter will see a gap in this array, for even if he has no knowledge of this particular blue, surely he'll see the relational problem of one blue 'leaping' to the other. He then speculates as to whether or not the man can produce a unique idea of the missing blue in his mind. He assumes (rather quickly) that he must be able to do, then discounts his experiment as too rare and trivial to change his initial maxim. Today, we may answer his problem by saying the painter has a relative idea of what blue should be there (lighter, more greenly) or perhaps we would say that the thought experiment itself is silly and filled with problems. That's not the concern I'm wrestling with.

Instead, I'd like to know more about the subjectivity of colour as is perceived in the mind, and if there is quantitative information on our abilities to do such a thing. (To give a completely arbitrary and baseless example, perhaps the majority of subjects can discern two different shades of red at a resolution of 50nm but two shades of violet at a distance of 10nm).

It is marveling to me that we can distinguish ten million different colours. Under what conditions can we do this? Can I put Colour #9342132 beside Colour #9342133 and distinguish them immediately?

From the initial question I posed in the heading as to whether the power is merely relational, I mean so from the act of reflection. We may be able to discern two colours side by side in immediate experience, but how about the powers of conjuring up different colours in our memory? I understand this is an entirely different field, but I want to approach colour from all angles here.

Age gets in my eyes

=^^= — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:03:53 -0800

How is it that as you grow older your perception of people's faces as being roughly in your age group grows with it? I am curious about what goes on in our minds (psychologically rather than neurologically) that enables us to perceive people as our peers in terms of age by looking at their faces.

I've noticed as I get older it becomes more noticeable, particularly when encountering authority figures such as police officers, GPs, teachers etc. some of whom strike me as still wet behind the ears, bloody young whippersnippers who nevertheless -- usually -- seem to know what they're talking about.

My online searches mostly resulted in research papers covering very specific aspects of facial age perception you need to purchase whereas I'm more interested in a global overview of the current state of play or, perhaps, an explanation why my assumption is completely misguided.

Looking for a picture that would be worth 1,000 words

Jaltcoh — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 13:30:46 -0800

I'm trying to find a psychological/sociological study on men and women's views of the ideal female body type. Several years ago, in college, I took a "human sexuality" course where our textbook showed two full-body illustrations of adult women standing next to each other. The women were very generic-looking and looked identical aside from their body shape. This was illustrating the results of a study in which men and women were asked to specify what they considered the ideal female body type.

Women's ideal was distinctly skinnier than average, while men's ideal was around average and notably curvy.

I want to do a blog post riffing on this disparity, and I'd love to be able to link to a study like this to use as a starting point. Here are my main criteria:

(1) There has to be a discussion of both men's and women's views contained within a single study.

(2) It has to be about perceived attractiveness of female body types.

(3) I'm interested in reasonably recent studies about current perceptions (not a critique about how Marilyn Monroe used to be considered ideal and so on).

(4) I'd hoping to find that same study or a similar one with illustrations of the different perceived ideals.

(5) It can't be something you'd need to have a paid subscription in order to see.

I've found this surprisingly hard to Google. I've found lots of references to the ideal "hips-waist ratio," but that's limitedly useful since it's only about proportions.

Since this is just for a personal blog and not academic research, there are no real standards for what kind of source I use. But I do want to find scientific data -- not anecdotes or trenchant social commentary.

Does Image Alignment Affect Perception Consistently?

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:05:48 -0800

In an image like this, does the alignments of the faces affect the viewers' perceptions or opinions of the people, and if so, does this cognitive bias for or against left or right carry over even to images where the faces are the same (Ie: "I think both people on the left side of either image look more trustworthy.")? Does the alignment of a single subject and addition of negative space also have an affect ("The woman in the second image looks meaner.")? I'm not so much asking for a referendum on these particular examples as I am curious about any empirical studies or statistics relating to this topic. Thanks!

The phenomenology of text

0bvious — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:21:33 -0800

The phenomenology / ontology of text: has anyone examined this issue directly in philosophical, literary and/or critical terms? I am interested in the experience and perception of text, both within readership and on an abstract (more holistic level perhaps) as the archetypical mediator and virtual-archive of human culture. I wish to explore it via its mediums (e.g. book, computer screen), its modes (e.g. semiotics, translation) and its means (e.g. poetry, fiction, encryption).

I came at this problem through Heidegger (most specifically in his re-appropriation of the term 'techné'), looking at text as a technology.

I have since come upon the writings of D.C. Greetham and a couple of other bits and pieces.

I feel that this is an area not much covered by the critical fields, especially in these times of ever encompassing digital/web-based mediums. I'm interested in following through some of this to a PhD proposal.

What paths should I be taking?

Your help, as always, is much appreciated.

How to maintain a great relationship between an artist and a business man?

InterestedInKnowing — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:34:34 -0800

Can a "low-functioning" artistic person like me maintain a great relationship with a "high-functioning" creative business man? I finally understand why me and my hon, have certain disagreements and arguments. It pops up when my principles and artistic views clash with his principles and high-functioning personality. It also affects the way we see things, such as when I make a joke, and the times he doesn't laugh or he will simply not see what I see at times. But for the most part we run on the same lines of what is fair to people and our judgments about others are the same. We both love music and share some likes in each others choice of genre. We have great political and deep discussions about life, family and friends. He is obviously great with money and I am fervent with handling my finances properly. Most of the time we are funny and laughing at the same things. He is very imaginative like me. So basically we are cool together with spots that need improvement.

There was a time, however, in our second year together where he had no idea of the OCD I was going through and saw my delayed, low-functioning level as proof of me not caring. He would sometimes criticize me for not being on his level with being consistent in areas that were important to us as a couple. He finally understood that was not a way to approach me because I don't take too kindly to coach-like tactics. He has apologized for acting like an ass and is happier knowing the real person I am instead of me willing myself to be something I am not comfortable with however, some of our discussions will turn into arguments because I feel that he can over-do it with the motivational can-do talk instead of flowing and relaxing with me. I sometimes feel his certain ways of thinking can be so opposite of what I believe in which has me anxious and then my obsessional thoughts creep in. And it also stems from my childhood of always being an awkward kid whom all the high-functioning children disliked because they saw me as annoying and stupid because it took me a bit longer to grasp a logical problem. So, after I graduated and then went to high school, I made sure I hung with only students on my level and we used to have a great time. I felt great. When I met my boyfriend, part of me knew he was one of those "high-functioning" individuals who might dislike what I have to offer. Well, he didn't dislike most of what I offered but when he did, he made it clearly known which was something I was not used to and rightfully so, made me upset because I felt he was acting spoiled.

Now, I love him to pieces and despite it all we still grow with each other. I just want to know how to understand and be right with him not being on my same level of artistry or function when our clear differences show up occasionally? How can I relate to my boyfriend better and how can he improve his relations with me? Anybody ever went through this as well?

Yes, I enjoy predictably irrational long tail freakonomics.

joshrholloway — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:27:04 -0800

Recommend some works similar to The Long Tail, Predictably Irrational, and Freakonomics. Within the past year I have read all three of these books and I absolutely loved them. I personally saw a common thread among them that really intrigued me, and I'm looking for more of the same.

I really like how they take on the common perceptions of how aspects of our world work and flip them on their heads, and expose the psychology and the underbelly of whole mindsets. I guess I'm looking for things that challenge the popular way of thinking and reveal possibilities about how stuff works that most people haven't thought about. If you've read any or all of these books, you'll understand what I'm talking about

I already have Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson, which I think will go along with this theme somewhat as well. So, AskMeFi, throw out some recommendations. Any books, articles, or similar are appreciated. Audiobooks (or podcasts or whatever) would be particularly awesome, because I have a moderately long commute that I like to use wisely.

What are some examples of psychological studies demonstrating how people are less perceptive than they believe?

Lownotes — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:22:45 -0800

What are some examples of psychological studies demonstrating how people are less perceptive than they believe? I'm working on a story on the subject.

The idea is people are not nearly as perceptive as they believe, and tend to create false narratives and explanations without realizing it.

A good example is a study where a researcher shows a subject two photos of different faces. The subject is asked which one they prefer. At some point, the researcher does some sleight of hand and presents a photo the subject said they did not prefer. The researcher then asks why they preferred it over the other (the one they actually said they liked more), and then the subject goes on to explain why.

Another study I vaguely remember involved convincing people they had visited a theme park they hadn't actually stepped foot in.

Yet another involved interviewing subjects, then distracting the subject for a moment, swiftly replacing the interviewer, and checking to see if the subject noticed - which they often did not.

The common thread here is people will often explain their decisions or observations to others and themselves even when they have no idea why, or if, they made those decisions or observations.

Examples and links to journals, videos, blogs, etc. are greatly appreciated.

Color generated 3D effects on screen,just me?

spacefire — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:01:06 -0800

Why does red text on black background appears 'closer to me' than green text on black background, when the two text elements are next to each-other? Other combinations yield all kinds of different 'distances'. Just curious, what causes this effect? I wear glasses or contacts and am astigmatic in the left eye.

Culturize Me!

Fuzzy Skinner — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:52:41 -0800

I'm looking for great websites that focus on the misconceptions that modern cultures have about one another. A (hopefully) better explanation, as well as a super-deluxe bonus question inside. (Including some begging!) I have always been interested in the perception vs. reality of different cultures. As an American (yes, the U.S. kind) I'm always fascinated to hear how people from other countries perceive everyday life here, and how much I probably don't know about how others live. Over the years, I have tracked down some information like this by Googling phrases such as "daily life in Japan," for example.

So: Are there any great websites or blogs that specialize in addressing this concept? They can be country-specific or not.

Super Deluxe Bonus Question: What one misperception about your place of residence (country, city, state, etc.) would you like laid to rest? (Here's the begging: please limit your response to the one misperception you want to address. We don't want this to go into chatfilter territory and run afoul of AskMe Law. Thanks!)