I had not heard of NLP nor Derren Brown. The former seems similar in some background assumptions as what I was discussing (though not at all in practical matters), while the latter has nothing to do with Churchland's work (but is interesting as illusionist type stuff goes).
This was actual science about how the mind works on the physical level to perceive, and not some movement suggesting treatment or simply to wow people.
In the case of colors, for example, the way eyes process color at the neuron level has been investigated. We are trichromatic (theor. possibility of tetrachromatic) which means we have three color "sets" which determine how we see any particular color. They work on a series of neuron impulses which activate or inhibit on each of the specific "sets". BTW I am simplifying this.
A neutral signal (so a balance of excitatory and inhibitory impulses) results in a grey perception. One can overwork a neuron which makes it shift toward grey (resting status).
That can be played with in predictable ways. A 3D table has been contructed based on all possible visual colors. Using the fact that neurons "burn out" with overexposure, and so shift toward grey (on that set), one can use the chart to predict what color you will see when your "burned out" neurons look at a different color. It should be shifted in a predictable way. In fact it does.
The exciting thing was that the brain's processing can theoretically process more colors (when looking at all excitatory/inhibitory combos) than are in the full range of visual color possibilities. The question was raised whether we could be forced to "see" these new colors which are not possible to be seen in reality (they don't have a real wavelength) but is theoretically predicted to be seen because our brain processes color using this trichromatic system.
So one burns out the neuron processing a certain color and then looks at black, the result would be that we see some wholly new color... it looks black as black can be but it is also blue for instance. An impossible color to exist, but our brains make it real. He called these things chimerical colors. A figment of how our brains work to process color for us, but as it is a system of impulses that can be fatigued it can be manipulated internally to produce novel (yet predictable) sensations.
The gender recognition thing was wilder and more intriguing since it wasn't simply a color neuron that was being overloaded. Clearly in this case we have recognition filter neurons (which would not be located directly in the retina) which could also be fatigued.
holmes
"What a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away." (D.Bros)
™ Version 4.2
