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Neuroscience
A Sip of Conflict
Would you, could you, will you drink from a water fountain fashioned from an actual—but unused—toilet? Porcelain is just porcelain . . . right?
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Benham's Disk
When the disk is spun, the colors you see are illusions. This effect was popularized in 1894 by toymaker C. E. Benham, who called his spinning disk an “artificial spectrum top."
Bronze Hand
The combination of past experience and the sight and feel of being touched seems to change your brain's definition of your body's boundaries. You may even feel as if the fake hand is part of you.
Cheshire Cat
Make your partner's face disappear, leaving only a smile.
Color Conflicts
When can reading get in the way of speaking?
Disappearing Act
An animal that blends in with its environment is much easier to see when it's moving than when it's still.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Floater Theater
Floater Theater is an intimate theatrical environment that whimsically prompts participants to explore the fascinating, commonly experienced phenomenon of eye floaters.
Hoop Nightmares
Your brain adapts quickly to a warped view of the world, turning baskets into air balls.
Magic Wand
Wave the wand quickly and see an image appear.
Mirrorly a Window
Confusing sensory information can be profoundly disturbing.
Mood Lighting
Sit down in a cozy chair and bathe your brain in a bubble of color of your choosing, dialing up anything from amber to violet. As you spend a few moments with each color, you may feel a shift in your own emotional hue.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Time to Think
At this exhibit, you can test your reaction time in three different scenarios—each requiring an increasing amount of thought. In the process, you can actually measure the time it takes your brain to accomplish the extra work of making a (fast) decision.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Triple-Aye Lightstick
A sweeping glance creates images that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. This phenomenon, called persistence of vision, is also at work in videos and movie projections, which also flash on and off rapidly.
