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By: Colin Jex

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Red Flag #1 Confusion of Correlation with Causation

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Red Flag #1 Confusion of Correlation with Causation

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Definition:
The meaning of correlation is one thing relates to another and causation is that one thing causes another. Although because one thing is related to another does not mean that one causes another.

Connection:
I picked number 4 out of this article, it states that vending machines in schools cause obesity. Stating that vending machines in schools causes obesity is correlation with confusion because it is stated that vending machines is the correlation to obesity but it is not a direct cause of obesity.

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When I first started blogging about correlation and causation (literally my third and fourth post ever), I asserted that there were three possibilities whenever two variables were correlated. Now that I'm older and wiser, I've expanded my list to six:

1. Thing A caused Thing B (causality)

2. Thing B caused Thing A (reversed causality)

3. Thing A causes Thing B which then makes Thing A worse (bidirectional causality)

4. Thing A causes Thing X causes Thing Y which ends up causing Thing B (indirect causality)

5. Some other Thing C is causing both A and B (common cause)

6. It's due to chance (spurious or coincidental)

The obvious conclusion is that years spent blogging about statistics directly correlates to the number of possible ways of confusing correlation and causation you recognize.

Anyway, I've talked about this a lot over the years, and this lesson is pretty fundamental in any statistics class...though options #3 and #4 up there aren't often covered at all. It's easily forgotten, so I wanted to use this post to pull together an interesting example of each type.

1. Smoking cigarettes cause lung cancer (Thing A causes Thing B): This is an example I use in my Intro to Internet Science talk I give to high school students. Despite my continued pleading to be skeptical of various claims, I like to point out that sometimes disbelieving a true claim also has consequences. For years tobacco companies tried to cast doubt on the link between smoking and lung cancer, often using "correlation is not causation!" type propaganda.

2. Weight gain in pregnancy and pre-eclampsia (Thing B causes Thing A): This is an interesting case of reversed causation that I blogged about a few years ago. Back in the 1930s or so, doctors had noticed that women who got pre-eclampsia (a potentially life threatening condition) also had rapid weight gain. They assumed the weight gain was causing the pre-eclampsia, and thus told women to severely restrict their weight gain. Unfortunately it was actually the pre-eclampsia causing the weight gain, and it is pretty likely the weight restrictions did more harm than good.

3. Dating and desperation (Thing A causes Thing B which makes Thing A worse): We've all had that friend. The one who strikes out with everyone they try to date, and then promptly doubles down on their WORST behaviors. This is the guy who stops showering before he takes girls out because "what's the point". Or the girl who gets dumped after bringing up marriage on the third date, so she brings it up on the first date instead. This is known as "bidirectional causality" and is less formally known as "a vicious cycle". In nature this can cause some really amusing graph behavior, as in the case of predators and prey. An increase in prey can cause an increase in predators, but an increase in predators will cause a decrease in prey. Thus, predator and prey populations can be both positively AND negatively correlated, depending on where you are in the cycle.

4. Vending machines in Schools and obesity (Thing A causes Thing X causes Thing Y which then causes Thing B): One obvious cause of obesity is eating extra junk food. One obvious source of extra junk food is vending machines. One obvious place to find vending machines is in many schools. So remove vending machines from schools and reduce obesity, right? No, sadly, not that easy. In a longitudinal study that surprised even the authors, it was found that kids who moved from schools without vending machines to those with vending machines don't gain weight. What's interesting is that you can find a correlation between kids who were overweight and eating food from vending machines, but it turns out the causal relationship is convoluted enough that removing the vending machines doesn't actually fix the original end point.

5. Vitamins and better health (Some other Thing C is causing Thing A and Thing B):This one is similar to #4, but I consider it more applicable when it turns out Thing A and Thing B weren't even really connected at all. Eating a bag of chips out of a vending machine every day CAN cause you to gain weight, even if removing the vending machine doesn't help you lose it again. With many vitamin supplements on the other hand, initial correlations are often completely misleading. Many people who get high levels of certain vitamins (Thing A) are actually just those who pay attention to their health (Thing C), and those people tend to have better health outcomes (Thing B). Not all vitamins should be tarred with the same brush though, this awesome visualization shows where the evidence stands for 100 different supplements.

6. Spurious Correlations (spurious or due to chance): There's a whole website of these, but my favorite is this one:

Causal inference, not for the faint of heart.

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6 Examples of Correlation/Causation Confusion

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When I first started blogging about correlation and causation (literally my third and fourth post ever), I asserted that there were three possibilities whenever two variables were correlated. Now that I'm older and wiser, I've expanded my list to six: Thing A caused Thing B (causality) Thing B caused Thing A (reversed causality) Thing A causes...

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Definition:
All natural is the use of all natural things even when they shouldn't be and the use of them could be harmful.

Connection:
Many people use and believe that home remedies are better for you than medicines from doctors. This can be really dangerous because you neglect the treatment you need and it can cause for symptoms to worsen. In this article examples of home remedies used that are dangerous are explained. For example putting butter a burn actually causes the burn to become worse.

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Home remedies are not only affordable, they're instantly available too, and though Most home cures are relatively harmless, be sure that your favourite combinations aren't on the list of dangerous home remedies.

Read: 6 dangers in your home

Dangerous cures for head lice
There are also many folk remedies for getting rid of head lice. People rub petrol or kerosene on their children's scalps, or use pesticides straight from their garden store. Other 'cures' involve coating the head with Vaseline, olive oil or salt water. Not only are these remedies ineffective, but they can be harmful. Safe and effective preparations can be purchased from pharmacies or prescribed by your GP.
Burns and paraffin ingestion
According to GP, Dr Bets Breedt, two of the most common dangerous home remedies she has encountered are:

Putting butter or oil on a burn. It is bad for the burn, as it actually keeps the heat in. The correct treatment is to cool the burn with cool water, afterwards covering it with antiseptic cream and a dry dressing.

Forcing a child who has ingested paraffin (kerosene) to vomit. Paraffin is toxic, but vomiting takes it into the lungs, where it does more damage than in the stomach - it can lead to a form of pneumonia (chemical pneumonitis) that is very dangerous. You should not give the child milk, charcoal or a laxative like liquid paraffin, instead give the child water to drink. The child should be admitted to hospital for X-rays and up to 24 hours' observation. Paraffin is the most common cause of acute unintentional poisoning among South African black children. The estimated incidence of paraffin ingestion is in the region of 80 000 cases per annum, and hospital fatality rates are between 0.72% and 2.1%.

Dodgy dental remedies
Health24's dental expert, Dr Imraan Hoosen, warns:

The practice of rubbing Grandpa Headache Powder onto the gum area to alleviate toothache is dangerous - gums become chemically burned. Rather take pain medication the usual way, and get yourself to a dentist.

A second frequently encountered problem is when patients with broken dentures use superglue to try and repair them at home. This is extremely dangerous, as the glue is toxic. The only solution is to have them professionally repaired.

Bad for baby
Paediatrician Professor Eugene Weinberg says that one inappropriately used home remedy is when babies with gastro-enteritis are taken off their usual food and put on rooibos tea, often for extended periods. The tea, while not harmful in itself, does not contain the essential electrolytes (especially potassium) and other nutrients required by an infant with severe diarrhoea.
Do not try this at home
Dr Anrich Burger, GP and Health24's Handicap Expert, volunteered the following examples as the worst home remedies he has ever encountered:

Putting cow dung on infected or bloody umbilical cords of infants to stop the bleeding or to stem infections. Cow dung is filled with bacteria, and in some instances may cause severe infection.

Using the urine of babies to wipe their eyes in order to treat eye infections. This practice is not effective and may simply make the infection worse.

Dr Ingrid van Heerden, Health24's DietDoc, reports that the very worst 'treatment' she'd ever heard of, was from a reader on the DietDoc Message Board who announced that she wanted to get infected with tapeworm in order to lose weight. She was so disturbed by this idea that she wrote a feature on the subject, titled " Refuting dietary myths". Don't ever use worms to try and lose weight!

According to Dr van Heerden, another very popular, but useless remedy is the use of apple cider vinegar to promote weight loss. This home remedy does the rounds with monotonous regularity, and nowadays some slimming products advertise that they contain apple cider vinegar. There is no scientific basis linking the ingestion of acetic acid to weight loss. In addition, vinegar and lemon juice can cause tooth enamel to erode over time, so whenever you've ingested these substances, rinse your mouth or brush your teeth straight afterwards.
Potentially harmful 'aphrodisiacs'

Sexologist Dr Elna McIntosh says that some substances thought of as aphrodisiacs (such as Spanish Fly) can be harmful. It's important to remember that, because aphrodisiacs, like all herbal supplements, are not regulated, it is difficult to know exactly what you're letting yourself in for when you pick up a bottle of "liquid love/lust" from your local sex shop.

If you do decide to give store-bought aphrodisiacs a try, make sure you know enough about all the ingredients and what their harmful effects may be.

Herbal remedies
Remember, when using herbal remedies, that they are medicines. Read the instructions carefully and adhere to dosage instructions. If you are using prescription medication, check with your doctor before taking additional herbal preparations, as some can counteract the effects of prescription medication.

Read more:
Is your home a death trap?
Enviro dangers at home Everyday poisons in your home

(Images: iStock)

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Home remedies are not only affordable, they're instantly available too, and though Most home cures are relatively harmless, be sure that your favourite combinations aren't on the list of dangerous home remedies. Read: 6 dangers in your home Dangerous cures for head lice There are also many folk remedies for getting rid of head lice.

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Definition:
Appeal to authority is when you are lead to believe something by someone in power even though it may not be true. You tend to believe them because they are in authority and you think they would be telling the truth.

Connection:
This appeal to authority is stating that doctors smoke a certain type of cigarette and this would let you believe that you should to. It does not say what types of risk comes with smoking but that the doctors choose these.

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From our contemporary perspective, vintage tobacco advertising from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s looks ridiculous. We live in a world where the unhealthiness of smoking is no longer debated, smoking is increasingly banned in public spaces, and people are increasingly abstaining from the habit, particularly those with higher levels of education.

The low-fat diet will eventually suffer a similar fate. Those who read scientific journals already know low-fat diets are unwise and unhealthy for most people. These facts are starting to enter the public domain via mainstream media, but at the same time, food companies are financially motivated to prolong the low-fat myth.

As I have written about on this blog and in my book, food companies sponsor official nutrition organizations, like the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), which subsequently endorse various unhealthy foods those companies sell. To dupe consumers, these corporate-governmental duos use classic marking techniques, particularly the appeal to authority.

For example, the American Heart Association's Heart Check program allows companies like Subway, Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola (Minute Maid Orange Juice products), and others to market low-fat foods as heart healthy. Similarly, the AND allows food industry sponsors to teach Registered Dietitians (RDs) about nutrition topics, thereby creating a mobile cadre of indoctrinated marketing agents. This occurs under the AND's Continuing Education Program, which requires RDs to regularly attend webinars or seminars.

For a 2010 commentary published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, Koplan and Brownwell observe,

The food industry has sought credibility by teaming with respected partners (eg, a beverage company partnering with a medical professional association). This tarnishes the partner and is seen as a cynical way of buying influence and goodwill.

For those in the know, these tactics are totally transparent, but as a benchmark, it's useful to browse cigarette advertising from previous eras. The Standford School of Medicine has put together a wonderful catalog of vintage cigarette advertisements, separated by categories, including Doctors Smoking, For Your Health, Scientific Authority, and more.

About Camel's "More Doctors Smoke" campaign, which ran during the late 1940s and early 1950s, Stanford writes,

One common technique used by the tobacco industry to reassure a worried public was to incorporate images of physicians in their ads. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all of his expertise, chose to smoke a particular brand, then it must be safe. Unlike with celebrity and athlete endorsers, the doctors depicted were never specific individuals, because physicians who engaged in advertising would risk losing their license. (It was contrary to accepted medical ethics at the time for doctors to advertise.) Instead, the images always presented an idealized physician - wise, noble, and caring - who enthusiastically partook of the smoking habit. All of the doctors in these ads came out of central casting from among actors dressed up to look like doctors. Little protest was heard from the medical community or organized medicine, perhaps because the images showed the profession in a highly favorable light. This genre of ads regularly appeared in medical journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, an organization which for decades collaborated closely with the industry.

The products have changed, but the tactics remain the same. Buyer beware.

Get Your Copy of the Award-Winning Book Behind the Blog

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Appealing to Authority: How Tobacco Advertising Parallels Modern Junk Food Marketing | Christopher James Clark

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From our contemporary perspective, vintage tobacco advertising from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s looks ridiculous. We live in a world where the unhealthiness of smoking is no longer debated, smoking is increasingly banned in public spaces, and people are increasingly abstaining from the habit, particularly those with higher levels of education.

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Definition:
A red herring is when there is a piece of information that is intended to be misleading. It is use to have you believe what they want and distract you from the other points.

Connection:
Many red herring examples are when someone is trying to distract someone else by changing the topic so that they can get out of doing something. The example in this article is a mother trying to get her child to go to bed but the child keeps asking questions trying to avoid going to sleep.

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Red Herring Definition

Red herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the original issue. In literature, this fallacy is often used in detective or suspense novels to mislead readers or characters, or to induce them to make false conclusions.

Let us consider a simple example of a red herring. A teacher catches a student cheating during a test. The student in response says, "I know I've made a mistake. But think of my parents. They're going to be heartbroken." The student uses a red herring in his response. He tries to appeal to pity to distract his teacher from the real issue.

The term red herring literally refers to a kind of dried red fish, which has a pungent smell. In fox hunting, hounds are prevented from catching the fox by distracting them with the strong scent of red herring. Similarly, a person can be stopped from proving his point, or discovering something important, in an argument by distracting him with an irrelevant issue.

Common Red Herring Examples

Some examples of red herring fallacy in casual conversations are given below:
Example 1:
Mother: It's bedtime Jane

Jane: Mom, how do ants feed their babies?

Mother: Don't know dear, close your eyes now.

Jane: But mama, do ant babies cry when they're hungry?

This conversation shows how a child tries to distract her mother so that she [Jane] can stay awake a little longer.
Example 2:
There is a lot of commotion regarding saving the environment. We cannot make this world an Eden. What will happen if it does become Eden? Adam and Eve got bored there!

The idea of Adam and Eve getting bored in Eden throws the listeners off the real issue of damaging the environment.

Examples of Red Herring in Literature

Mystery and suspense novels are rich with red herring examples, as writers frequently use them to veil the facts from the readers in order to develop their interest.

Example #1: Da Vinci Code (By Dan Brown)

The character of Bishop Aringarosa, in Dan Brown's novel Da Vinci Code, serves as an example of a red herring throughout the novel. The character is presented in such a way that the readers suspect him to be the mastermind of the whole conspiracy in the church.

Later, it is revealed that he is innocent. This example of a red herring in the novel distracts the readers from who the real bad guy is, and thus adds to the mystery of the story. Interestingly, the Italian surname of the bishop "Aringarosa" translates in English as "red herring."

Example #2: Sherlock Holmes: Hound of the Baskervilles (By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: Hound of the Baskervilles presents a classic example of red herring. The readers are thrown off the real murderer and start suspecting the escaped convict and Barrymore. In the end, however, the mystery is resolved by the unexpected confession of Beryl that her husband Stapleton was the real culprit, and was behind the whole mystery of the killer Hound.

Example #3: The Withdrawing Room (By Charlotte Macleod)

We observe the killer planting false clues and providing red herrings in Charlotte Macleod's The Withdrawing Room. Augustus Quiffen, a lodger at Sarah's Brownstone home, is killed falling under the train. Seemingly, it was an accident, until Mary Smith tells Sarah that it was a murder, but she cannot identify the murderer. Sarah and Max Bittersohn investigate the matter, and find that the killer had planned the death beforehand, and that he was well-prepared to conceal it with a convincing red herring.

Function of Red Herring

A red herring is a common device used in mystery and thriller stories to distract the reader from identifying the real culprit. The red herring in a story can take the form of characters that the reader suspect, but who turn out be innocent when the real murderer is identified. It aims at keeping the readers guessing at the possibilities until the end, and therefore keeps them interested in the story. Readers enjoy solving the mysteries created by red herrings in the story. Undoubtedly, it would be difficult to keep the reader's interest, if thrillers exposed the killer from the start.

Moreover, for politicians, red herrings come in handy as they use them frequently to dodge difficult questions in a discussion or an argument. They do it by referring to a different issue, which of course is irrelevant, to sidetrack from the original issue under discussion.

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Red Herring - Examples and Definition of Red Herring

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Definition, Usage and a list of Red Herring Examples in common speech and literature. Red herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the original issue.

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Definition:
Mystical energy is the phenomenon when energy is obtained or felt from a higher power but it can't be seen or explained.

Connection:
This necklace that is for sale claims to provide people with focus and energy. This energy it claims to give you can't be seen and there is no proof of any benefit.

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sterling silver mystical kabbalahmental balance four rivers amulet charm necklace dr-1005

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Sterling Silver Mystical KabbalahMental Balance Four Rivers Amulet Charm Necklace DR-1005

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Sterling Silver Prosperity Amulet by Dan Raveh. Made in Israel Hand Crafted. Magnificent Silver Hand Crafted Prosperity Amulet. Made of sterling 925 silver. Supply with 60Cm silver plated chain. Brand New. Come in a gift box. Size: 0.9X1.1 in. According to the Kabalah, a person's soul is created ...

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Post #10

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Description:
Patternicity is when you see patterns within other objects.

Connection:
In this example three birds are photographed flying and it appears that the birds form a face. It is a very simple picture but it allows your mind to see something that isn't there.

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By: Yvette Christine

Is it Just My Imagination?

The human mind is one of the most complex living machines on earth. We thrive for knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Everything we do, see, hear, taste, touch, or experience, shapes are very existence. From this we naturally find correlation in every aspect of our life with a memory or experience we may have. What happens when the patterns and symbols in our life become so commonplace that we begin to believe it is no longer a coincidence and attach meaning to it? Some would believe this is caused by a condition called patternicity or apophenia.

Both apophenia and patternicity have similar meaning. Apophenia, coined by Klaus Conrad, "is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data." Michael Shermer called this patternicity, which is, "the tendency to find meaningless patterns in both meaningful and meaningless noise." An example of this can be seen in an article written by Elliot Benjamin, in which he talks about a time of despair in his life after losing his job. While driving behind a vehicle, he saw a license plate that read ACT. He immediately associated this with a workshop he had done which not only had the same acronym but the workshop itself was about accepting difficulties and disappointments in life in a mindful way. He saw this as a sign of what he should do...ACT, and instantaneously attributed meaning to it. Scientists believe that conditions such as apophenia and patternicity are caused by an error in our cognition. A type 1 error is "an error of perception, the tendency to interpret random patterns as meaningful." Hoopes, 2011. A type II error has the opposite effect in which you do not believe something is real, when in fact it is real.

Unless these conditions are bordering on paranoia, who's to say that finding meaning in something is a bad thing. Let's use science as an example. Science basically refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. It uses a system of observation and experiments with the goal of obtaining an answer to something or to find out how something works.Why can't this same rationale apply to someone's life? Maybe as humans, being pattern seekers by nature, we subconsciously take the symbols and images we see and experience and correlate them to an event or situation in our life as a way to help us make sense of something or find out an answer to an underlying problem.

The study of apophenia/patternicity brought to mind the book, "The Secret." The book talks about how our thoughts are the most powerful energy in the universe. They say thoughts have frequencies that send out magnetic energy that attracts similar energy. Those thoughts then manifest themselves into things. Maybe when we continually think about something, we create a heightened awareness for it, which manifests itself in the physical form.

I do believe this to an extent. I have had many experiences, both consciously and subconsciously, where certain events, symbols, or numbers appear in a certain pattern that make me wonder if there is a "message or meaning" in these constantly appearing patterns. An example of this is based on the number 24. I used to date this guy on and off for years, whose favorite number was 24. While I was dating him, the number didn't have much significance. Throughout the years, I would go through periods; sometimes it was weeks, other times it lasted for months, where this number would seem to occasionally pop up consistently. For instance, on occasions throughout the day, I would look up at the clock, and the minutes would read 24. I would see it show up on my receipts and many other things as well. I knew this number was familiar in some way, but I could not for the life of me remember why. Then one day I forgot all about it and I no longer attached meaning to it. Then out-of-the-blue, I was contacted by an old friend on Facebook. It turns out this friend had a message for me from the person I used to date, whose favorite number was 24. That is when I started finding a pattern in it. I began to wonder if I was seeing the number because he was out there actively searching for me-was it a sign? Well during a trial separation from my current relationship, I restarted my friendship with this guy. That is when it started happening again, the number 24 started to appear everywhere! Eventually, we both decided to end the friendship and now no longer talk. Even so, the number would occasionally pop up and again it made me wonder. This guy had been in my system for years and I wanted him out, yet that pesky number kept him current on my mind. Then after sometime, the significance of the number dissipated from my mind and I no longer thought of him. Not too long after my husband enrolled back in school, I was setting up his Mount Sac account, and saw that his username ended in the number "24"-go figure.

Maybe we subconsciously find meaning in things as a way to find hope and reassurance in our life. Maybe because our brains are wired with so many experiences, pictures, ideas, and the like, there are going to be times when our thoughts intersect with reality. For me, I use these forms of apophenia/patternicity to find reassurance and have hope in this crazy thing called life.

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Posts about Patternicity on Mother of 4♥

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By: Yvette Christine Is it Just My Imagination? The human mind is one of the most complex living machines on earth. We thrive for knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Everything we do, see, hear, taste, touch, or experience, shapes are very existence.

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Reason for Belief #8 Perception/Observation

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Reason for Belief #8 Perception/Observation

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Description:
Our brain store memories from personal experiences however those memories are often corrupted and altered from reality.

Connection:
The hollow face experiment shows how our mind assumes and fills in potential blanks. The hollow face allows for our minds to see things in a way that isn't possible but proves how we perceive certain things.

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Have you ever wondered how we see things the way we do?

Are you curious about how we take in the visuals in an environment filled with strong sensory stimuli and then interpret what we see and understand through visual information processing?

The phenomenon is called visual information processing o r visual perception.

Visual information processing plays a big role in our everyday life.

Understanding Visual Processing

How our brain processes visual information helps us from learning as children to how we see the world and interact with our environments throughout our lives.

Because of the ease with which we rely on these perceptual processes, we tend to overlook the complexity behind visual information processing.

Visual processing describes the way our brain processes visual information.

The examples of visual processing in everyday life are endless, from taking in information through reading text, our computer screens, sporting games, facial cues, and social interactions.

And of course, as we humans are all different when it comes to our brain function, vision, and auditory processing or hearing, we must consider that information processing lives on a spectrum.

For example, good visual information processing means being able to quickly and accurately process and analyze what is being seen and store it in visual memory for later recall. On the other hand, visual processing difficulties affect many people diagnosed with reading and learning disabilities, dyslexia, and ADD/ADHD.

Regardless of where someone lies on the spectrum of visual processing, all humans rely on their visual cortex to decipher what they see.

Visual Processing Through The Visual System: Sense Organs and the Visual Cortex

The visual system is the piece of the central nervous system required for visual perception to create some meaning from the visual environment. Humans are equipped with sense organs (e.g., eye, ear, nose) for processing environmental stimulus.

Each sense organ works as one component of our larger sensory system or visual system to receive sensory information and send this sensory information to the brain, or more specifically, the visual cortex.

As part of the visual system, the visual cortex is the primary cortical area of the brain that receives, incorporates, and performs visual information processing from the eye's retinas.

To get technical, the primary visual cortex is in the occipital lobe of the primary cerebral cortex, which is in the most posterior region of the brain.

This means visual processing of visual stimulus detected from your eyes travels through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus and then reaches the visual cortex.

The human visual system for visual processing sounds complex, yet it happens instantly!

Understanding how we interpret what we see can help us design and organize visual information.

Let's take a look at five psychological studies that reveal some remarkable insights into visual perceptions, and how visual information processing occurs in different ways.

Table of contents

Want to jump right into creating visuals that pop? Try Piktochart for free and get access to our constantly updated library of beautiful templates.

1. Visual Perception Theory by Richard Gregory

Top-down processing, also known as conceptual-driven processing, happens when visual information processing involves taking in the whole picture to try to make sense of what we see.

We make our best guesses of what we see with the human eye based on existing perception. Our perceptions of the world are hypotheses based on one's expectations, past experiences, beliefs, processed learning, previously gathered data, etc.

In other words, we make a calculated visual analysis and assumptions from our combined working memory.

According to Gregory, we are typically correct in those initial visual analysis assumptions.

The hollow mask experiment:

One of the trials Gregory ran in order to test his theory of visual information processing was called the hollow mask experiment, testing the top-down perception and face recognition ability of his subjects.

He used the rotation of a Charlie Chaplin mask to explain how we perceive the visual input of the hollow surface of the mask as protruding, based on our individually formed expectations and experiences of the world.

Our prior, processed knowledge of a normal face is that the nose shape protrudes. So, we subconsciously reconstruct the hollow face into a normal face shape.
Based on Gregory's visual assumption theory, we can say that:

Nearly 90% of what we see (the visual data) is lost by the time it reaches our brains. Because of this, the brain has to make its best guess based on our past experience and previously processed knowledge.

The visual information we see is combined with previously stored information about the world, which we have built up as a result of our unique learning experiences and personal development.

Our location or surroundings help to shape and provide context to the visual information processing that occurs.

Visual design tips based on Gregory's theory:

1. Pair your data with relevant themes and visuals.

2. Use meaningful headlines to set key expectations.

3. Support visuals with relevant text.

2. Color Relations Experiment by Thomas Sanocki and Noah Sulman

Visual analysis studies have shown that a group of similar colors will be perceived as harmonious and pleasant, while the visual processing of contrasting colors is associated with chaos or different degrees of boldness.

Space and color directly affect our short-term visual memory capacity. When we arrange images or familiar objects in vertical and horizontal formats, and only use a few similar colors, we create a simpler visual to be processed.

This particular study was concerned with studying VSTM, or visual short-term memory. Four sets of trials were carried out using both harmonious and disharmonious color palettes.

In each visual analysis trial, observers were presented with two sets of color patterns and asked to compare them as visual tasks.

Participants were asked to rate whether the patterns shown were 'same' or 'different.' Observers were also expected to rate whether the pattern was harmonious in these visual tasks.

The following examples are the four types of color patterns used:
Based on the results of the study, Sanocki and Sulman concluded that:

People remember color patterns better when the color palette is harmonious.

People remember patterns with fewer colors (two-color palettes) better than patterns with more colors (four-color palettes).

The contrast of surrounding colors impacted how well we remember the color pattern. In other words, color differences between the content and the background may enhance our ability to focus our attention on the content itself.

Visual design tips based on Sanocki and Sulman's color relations experiment:

1. Reduce color complexity and stick to one color scheme with presenting complex data for faster information processing.

2. Use high contrast between the text, illustration icon, and background color.

3. Be mindful when using color palettes of more than three.

3. Binocular rivalry phenomenon

Binocular rivalry occurs when our eyes see two different images in the same location.

One image dominates our visual memory while the other is suppressed.

The dominance alternates periodically, so rather than seeing a single combination of both visuals at all times, we experience the alternation of the visual imagery over time as the two visuals compete for visual dominance.

In 1998, Frank Tong, Ken Nakayama, J. Thomas Vaughan, and Nancy Kanwisher observed this visual processing phenomenon firsthand.

In their experiment, four participants were shown, through red-green filter glasses, an image of a face and a house in an organized set.

Each eye and respective eye movements were set to see one specific image at a time. The visual-selective responses of observers were monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for eye movements.
According to their visual memory experiment:

The fMRI for all observers indicated strong binocular rivalry when dissimilar visual imagery was presented.

Binocular rivalry happens during the visual processing stage within our primary visual cortex. In other words, during the short period of time when our eyes rest upon two dissimilar images that are close together, we will not be able to determine what we actually see, and lack object recognition function.

Visual design tips based on the binocular rivalry phenomenon

1. Avoid content clutter in your visuals, this will only create more difficulty for your audience's visual processing.

2. Highlight important points by increasing font size or changing its colors.

3. Stick to consistency in your design theme to maintain visual attention.

4. Influence of Typography and Aesthetics on Reading

Did you know that typography can affect your mood as well as your ability to solve problems?

In two different studies, participants were divided into separate groups and given 20 minutes to read a typeset issue of a magazine (The New Yorker) on a tablet device.

One of the groups was presented with a badly typeset version, while the other group was presented with a properly typeset version.

During the session, participants were interrupted and asked to estimate the amount of time they thought had passed since the experiment began.
The results of the study showed that:

Participants from both groups underestimated their reading time. This implies that reading is an engaging task.

Participants in the proper typography group greatly underestimated their reading time compared to participants that were reading items with poor typography. This implies that reading with good typography is even more engaging.

Visual design tips based on Larson and Picard's visual attention experiment on typography influence:

1. Use easy-to-read font types to ensure readers' visual attention.

2. Ensure there's enough white space between your text and visuals for visual processing.

3. Avoid placing images or icons (visual information) between texts.

5. Recognizing the Gist of a Scene

Have you ever wondered what "a picture's worth a thousand words" really means?

Why are we able to understand visuals through instant visual processing more thoroughly than reading and absorbing text?

As humans, we have the ability to gather context based on what we see (visual processing through the primary visual cortex).

When we fix our eyes on something, we have the ability to form an understanding of the environment (visual information) and recognize the meaning of a scene.

According to Ronald A. Rensink, a research scientist from Nissan Research & Development, Inc., visual processing of scene gist or scene perception is the visual perception of an environment as viewed by an observer at any given time.

It includes not only the perception of individual objects but also things like their past experience, relative locations, and expectations about what other kinds of objects might be encountered.

On the influence of color on scene perception

The visual processing experiment was conducted in three different trials.

Undergraduates were exposed to a few hundred photographs of natural or man-made objects in various conditions to later be tested on their visual processing of these photos.

Participants were asked to determine whether or not a target object matched the scene they were seeing, and if they could recognize this despite a plethora of visual information.

Normal and blurred photographs with colors, and monochrome sample photographs were presented as different types of visual information.

To determine the role of colors in scene visual parallel processing, the following sample photographs were used:

They also studied the range of visual attention toward abnormalities with the following samples:
According to Castelhano and Henderson's visual information findings:

Observers were able to match the scenes and target objects within a second. This implies people have the ability to quickly get the meaning of a normal scene.

Observers were able to match the scenes in less time if they were colored correctly (as compared to black and white). This means colors can help us understand scenes better.

Overall, colors provide a function to help define the structure of objects and shapes. As long as the colors are not too different from what we normally perceive, we'll be able to easily understand the meaning of an image through objects.

Visual information design tips based on Larson and Picard's experiment:

1. Use the (perceptually) correct icon or image to represent data. For example, a heart icon is universally associated with love, passion, or relationships.

2. Be mindful of your layout and design hierarchy to share visual information.

3. Use colors when possible, especially if you want to highlight important data or information with visual stimulus.

How Do These Visual Information Processing Findings Affect Your Design?

Understanding how the human brain and different people perceive visual information through visual perceptual processing reveals a great deal about the best practices for designing infographics, presentations, posters, and other types of visuals.
Based on these combined findings, here are some important information design tips:

1. Consider your writing layout and visual hierarchy to achieve focus.

2. Use images, illustrations, icons, and other graphic elements as much as possible.

3. Be mindful of your color schemes and their respective function.

4. Choose the right fonts.

Create Your Own Stunning Visuals With These Piktochart Templates

Keeping these newly learned visual information processing points in mind, you can now create beautiful and compelling visuals that create a lasting visual memory through conscious perception.

Here's a collection of templates to create visually compelling assets that help transmit information to your focus audience.

Basic infographic template

Basic presentation template

Basic poster template

Basic trifold brochure template
This blog post was originally published on October 31, 2014 and updated on February 6, 2023, for relevance, new templates, and comprehensiveness.

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5 Psychology Studies on How People Perceive Visual Information

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Have you ever wondered how we see things the way we do? Are you curious about how we take in the visuals in an environment filled with strong sensory stimuli and then interpret what we see and understand through visual information processing? The phenomenon is called visual information processing o r visual perception.

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The unknown cannot be explained until it is known.

Connection:
Even though there are many stories and photos of Bigfoot there are no real facts to prove the existence of the phenomenon. Therefore it is unexplained because there is no evidence proving its existence or its nonexistence.

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What Science Can't Explain

Science is powerful, but there is much it can't explain. And when people see, hear or believe something that is not explained, science finds itself trying to prove things don't exist, and that's truly impossible. In the following pages, you'll learn more about some of the most common inexplicable phenomena - from ghosts to supposed man-like beasts, from incredible experiences at the line between life and death to amazing but unexplained feats of the mind itself. How much of this is real? We'll let you decide.

The Taos Hum

Some residents and visitors in the small city of Taos, New Mexico, have for years been annoyed and puzzled by a mysterious and faint low-frequency hum in the desert air.

Oddly, only about 2 percent of Taos residents report hearing the sound. Some believe it is caused by unusual acoustics; others suspect mass hysteria or some secret, sinister purpose. Whether described as a whir, hum, or buzz and whether psychological, natural, or supernatural no one has yet been able to locate the sound's origin. Thing is, a survey revealed that those who claim to hear the sounds actually hear many different sounds, suggesting the experiences may be subjective, not actually objective sounds (and pretty certainly not one particular sound).

The next item on our list could fill big shoes if it had to. Guess what it is?

For decades, large, hairy, manlike beasts called Bigfoot have occasionally been reported by eyewitnesses across America. Despite the thousands of Bigfoot that must exist for a breeding population, not a single body has been found. Not one has been killed by a hunter, struck dead by a speeding car, or even died of natural causes. In the absence of hard evidence like teeth or bones, support comes down to eyewitness sightings and ambiguous photos and films.

Since it is logically impossible to prove a universal negative, science will never be able to prove that creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster do not exist, and it is possible that these mysterious beasts lurk far from prying eyes. Call us skeptical, and check out our complete story about Bigfoot.

Intuition

(Image credit: © Goldenkb | Dreamstime.com)

Whether we call it gut feelings, a 'sixth sense,' or something else, we have all experienced intuition at one time or another. Of course, gut feelings are often wrong (how many times during aircraft turbulence have you been sure your plane was going down?), but they do seem to be right much of the time. Psychologists note that people subconsciously pick up information about the world around us, leading us to seemingly sense or know information without knowing exactly how or why we know it. But cases of intuition are difficult to prove or study, and psychology may only be part of the answer.

If your intuition is telling you that the next slide is about mysterious disappearances, you're right!

Mysterious Disappearances

People disappear for various reasons. Most are runaways, some succumb to accident, a few are abducted or killed, but most are eventually found. Not so with the truly mysterious disappearances. From the crew of the Marie Celeste to Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart, and Natalee Holloway, some people seem to have vanished without a trace. When missing persons are found, it is always through police work, confession, or accident never by 'psychic detectives'). But when the evidence is lacking and leads are lost, even police and forensic science can't always solve the crime.

One word about our next slide: Boo!

Ghosts

(Image credit: © Michal Bednarek | Dreamstime.com)

From the Shakespeare play "MacBeth" to the NBC show "Medium," spirits of the dead have long made an appearance in our culture and folklore. Many people have reported seeing apparitions of both shadowy strangers and departed loved ones. Though definitive proof for the existence of ghosts remains elusive, sincere eyewitnesses continue to report seeing, photographing, and even communicating with ghosts. Ghost investigators hope to one day prove that the dead can contact the living, providing a final answer to the mystery.

Our next mystery is not about ghosts. Our next mystery is not about ghosts. Wait a minute? Haven't I read that before somewhere?

Deja vu

Deja vu is a French phrase meaning 'already seen,' referring to the distinct, puzzling, and mysterious feeling of having experienced a specific set of circumstances before. A woman might walk into a building, for example, in a foreign country she'd never visited, and sense that the setting is eerily and intimately familiar. Some attribute deja vu to psychic experiences or unbidden glimpses of previous lives. As with intuition (see #3), research into ,human psychology can offer more naturalistic explanations, but ultimately the cause and nature of the phenomenon itself remains a mystery. [ All About Deja Vu]

The next mystery is really out of this world. Read on!

UFOs

There is no doubt that UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) exist - many people see things in the skies that they cannot identify, ranging from aircraft to meteors. Whether or not any of those objects and lights are alien spacecraft is another matter entirely; given the fantastic distances and effort involved in just getting to Earth from across the universe, such a scenario seems unlikely.

Still, while careful investigation has revealed known causes for most sighting reports, some UFO incidents will always remain unexplained. [ UFO Sightings & News]

You must check out the next mystery. We're deadly serious.

Near-Death Experiences and Life After Death

People who were once near death have sometimes reported various mystical experiences (such as going into a tunnel and emerging in a light, being reunited with loved ones, a sense of peace, etc.) that may suggest an existence beyond the grave. While such experiences are profound, no one has returned with proof or verifiable information from "beyond the grave."

Skeptics suggest that the experiences are explainable as natural and predictable hallucinations of a traumatized brain. A study of people in cardiac arrest in 2015 found that when the heart is dying, it gets peppered by signals from the brain, which tries to stay active. The scramble of signals might be responsible for near-death experiences, researchers figure.

Two mysteries to go. Can you divine what they might be?

Psychic powers and ESP

Psychic powers and extra-sensory perception ( ESP) rank among the top ten unexplained phenomena if for no other reason than that belief in them is so widespread. Many people believe that intuition (see #3) is a form of psychic power, a way of accessing arcane or special knowledge about the world or the future. Researchers have tested people who claim to have psychic powers, though the results under controlled scientific conditions have so far been negative or ambiguous. Some have argued that psychic powers cannot be tested, or for some reason diminish in the presence of skeptics or scientists. If this is true, science will never be able to prove or disprove the existence of psychic powers.

The Body/Mind Connection

Medical science is only beginning to understand the ways in which the mind influences the body. The placebo effect, for example, demonstrates that people can at times cause a relief in medical symptoms or suffering by believing the cures to be effective - whether they actually are or not. Using processes only poorly understood, the body's ability to heal itself is far more amazing than anything modern medicine could create. So while there are many unexplained phenomena, and frankly some of them are dubious, the explainable science of the body and mind, even if we're still trying to figure much of it out, may be among the most amazing phenomena of all.

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Science is powerful, but there is much it can't explain. And when people see, hear or believe something that is not explained, science finds itself trying to prove things don't exist, and that's truly impossible.