The Lab.
Small experiments you run on your own brain. A new one most weeks, paired with each new piece of writing.
Reading about the brain is one thing and feeling it work is another. Each of these is a quick, honest demonstration you can try yourself. Nothing is saved and nothing is graded. There are a few to start, and more will join them as the writing grows.
The Stroop test
One of the oldest demonstrations in psychology. It takes about a minute, and it measures something real about how your brain handles conflict.
Try it yourself
The afterimage
The color-coding cells in your visual system adapt, and you can feel it on a blank gray field.
Try it yourself
Drive a neuron to threshold
A leaky integrate and fire model. Push it and watch the rate change, never the size.
Try it yourself
This is a leaky integrate and fire neuron, the textbook simplification. Below a certain push it settles at a low quiet level below threshold and never spikes. Above it, it fires a full spike and resets, and the harder you push the faster it fires. The spike size never changes, only the rate.
Edges that aren't there
Lateral inhibition, painting in shading the screen never showed.
Try it yourself
Each band below is one flat, uniform gray. But each looks darker on its bright edge and brighter on its dark edge. Click any band to check its true color.
Click a band and the demo will read its actual pixel color back to you.
More experiments are on the way, each one paired with the ideas it brings to life.