The Brain

The brain: Think about it
Jerry Large
Seattle Times staff columnist

Feeling sleepy? It’s all in your brain.

That hunk of gray and white matter is us, but we’re just starting to understand it. You may hear more about it over the next few days because this is International Brain Awareness Week.

It’s also the start of daylight-saving time, which will make many of us more aware of our own brains because they won’t be working so well.

Your brain is a lot more than the calculator you used to use in math class. It’s the gateway between you and the world outside your head.

I played with some illusions that illustrate that last week during the University of Washington’s annual brain-awareness open house.

I looked at dark and light squares printed on a sheet of paper in a chess board pattern. A student asked which of two marked squares was lighter, A or B. It seemed obvious that A was darker.

Turns out they are the same shade of gray, but A was surrounded by light squares and B by dark squares.

Anyone familiar with a chess board would see that familiar pattern, and not what’s really on the paper. Even when you know the trick, your brain shows you what it’s been programed to see.

Here is the full article.