Our brains are good at filling in the gaps when it comes to perception - often so well that we see the outcome of an event before it even ends. New research has shown that predicting the future happens faster than in reality.
Until now, studies of the visual area of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for the imagination, in the aspect of anticipating future events have been carried out only on animals. Scientists at the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands) were the first to study what happens in the human brain.
Participants in the experiment, 29 students, watched the white dot move across the screen 108 times in a row. In the end, their brains knew exactly what to expect from that point. Then, when those expectations were fixed, they were shown a random sequence of 24 point movements. Some were completely like the previous ones, others - only in the initial or final phase.
When the volunteers looked at the point, the corresponding zones of the visual cortex were highlighted, which was visible on functional magnetic resonance imaging. And when the student was shown a point, he mentally completed its movement, but twice as fast as the point did.
Thus, it has been proven that we have a way to quickly visualize relatively simple movements, for example, a ball flying into our head, at least twice as fast as it actually happens. And it is possible that this ability to predict the future can be developed, writes Science Alert.
Another study of the features of human visual perception was carried out by German scientists. They decided to understand if we subconsciously understand that the so-called restored vision is less believable than actual visual information. It turned out that no.