GRILL ILLUSION: Neurons and SAUSAGES

Simple experiment with an amusing illusion gives impetus to the study of fundamental principles of our brain.

Taking a pack of sausages, a neuroscientist Lindstedt Fredrik (Fredrik Lindstedt) once put a home experiment. The first half of sausage scientist warmed in the microwave and the other stuck in the fridge. Laying them one after another - hot, cold, hot, cold, etc. Dr.. - He put his hand on top. And indeed, in full accordance with the known temperature ...

But instead of limited by the fact that colleagues tell the story as an amusing anecdote from the life, the scientist interested in the deep nature of these illusory experiences. The very existence of this illusion has been known for more than a century, but until now the mechanisms of its origin remains unclear - and it is unclear why it can even cause pain.

The essence of the ... According to Lindstedt, feeling a bit like the one that arises when we dip a heated hand in the snow - although it is difficult to accurately convey, ...

With a group of his colleagues Lindstedt exposed the illusion of people who were in the tomograph - which, by itself, was far from ordinary task. Indeed, for scanner creates a strong magnetic field, and requires a completely exclude the presence in it of any foreign metallic objects. Sausages are also not satisfied with scientists, because of sufficient accuracy it was necessary to strictly control the temperature ...

Therefore, scientists have designed a simple enough heating device - a plastic container, covered with equal stripes of silver ( the metal is not magnetic ). The device was applied to the foot of the subject, who was in the scanner, and for heating and cooling silver strips were used to let down his pipe, filled with water the right temperature.

In accordance with the plans of experimentalists, every 20 seconds of the experiment all the silver plate heated to 41 ° C, or cooled to 18 ° C, either through a cool and heated. As expected, all of the 20 volunteers participated in the experiments reported, ... But the most interesting, of course, was the analysis of brain activity, the data which were obtained in the tomograph.

fMRI showed that at the time of a sense of ... Excited and so -called ...

Interestingly, a similar activity of the thalamus observed in ... It is the search tools to combat such disorders is a major research topic Lindstedt, and now he intends to repeat the experiments on humans, they suffer. How do they react to the thalamus is an illusion? .

And - yes - if you have the desire to repeat the experiment with dogs, be sure and tell us how it worked.