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Seeing ghosts

Chi65

Sempai
14 Nov 2007
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I happened to find this article by accident, and thought, it may be of interest for many "ghostlovers".
Although that theme was already lightly touched somewhere else, it might shed new lights on it.

Posting this article does not necessarily meet all my opinions, own experiences in full, but it may show the present thoughts and experiences of scientists and be nevertheless interesting, to think about.

So, enjoy the reading plus picture in the link, please, and pick up the stimulation and comment, if you feel like:

Environment

Scientists "see" ghosts
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 7:01pm GMT 21/02/2008
The reason that apparitions, bogeymen and phantoms like to lurk in the shadows may have been revealed by scientists.
A 'ghost' in the Haunted Gallery at Hampton Court Palace
A team from University College London finds that when we gaze around in a poorly-lit context, it can fool our brains into seeing things that are not really there.
Although no one has done a systematic study of ghosts, neuroscientists are convinced they are "all in the mind" and, in the light of the new work, it does not seem so surprising that they seem most often glimpsed in "spooky" dimly-lit circumstances
In the journal PLoS Computational Biology, Prof Li Zhaoping and her colleagues say that the context surrounding what we see is all important - sometimes overriding the evidence gathered by our eyes and even causing us to imagine things.
They were surprised to find that a vague background context has more influence on what we see than one that is bright and well defined, and speculate that this might explain the power of some abstract art and why we can see vivid details in the vague brush strokes of impressionist paintings.
"The paintings are vague in details, but I speculate that, perhaps because of this vagueness viewers are free to use their vivid imaginations to fill-in the details," says Prof Zhaoping, who adopts her first name as her scientific pen name - Li is such a common name it can cause an identity crisis for Chinese scientists.
"Everything we see is an hallucination generated by the virtual reality machine inside our head," comments Prof Mike Morgan of The City University, London.
"Normally these hallucinations are vetoed by the information coming through our senses, so we can call perception 'controlled hallucination.'
"But when the input is ambiguous we can see all sorts of things, like the faces de Quincy saw in clouds and carpets. There are hundreds of faces hidden in the textured floors of the platforms at Euston Underground Station, if you look for them."
To reveal the haunting power of context, 18 observers were asked by the UCL team to concentrate on the centre of a black computer screen. Every time a buzzer sounded they pressed one of two buttons to record whether or not they had just seen a small, dim, grey 'target' rectangle in the middle of the screen. It did not appear every time, but when it did appear it was displayed for just 80 milliseconds (80 one thousandths of a second).
"People saw the target much more often if it appeared in the middle of a vertical line of similar looking, grey rectangles, compared to when it appeared in the middle of a pattern of bright, white rectangles. They even registered 'seeing' the target when it wasn't actually there," says Prof Zhaoping.
"This is because people are mentally better prepared to see something vague when the surrounding context is also vague. It made sense for them to see it - so that's what happened. When the target didn't match the expectations set by the surrounding context, they saw it much less often.
"Illusionists have been alive to this phenomenon for years,"continues Prof Zhaoping. "When you see them throw a ball into the air, followed by a second ball, and then a third ball which 'magically' disappears, you wonder how they did it.
"In truth, there's often no third ball - it's just our brain being deceived by the context, telling us that we really did see three balls launched into the air, one after the other."
"Contrary to what one might expect, it is a vague rather than a bright and clearly visible context that most strongly permits our beliefs to override the evidence and fill in the blanks."
This could also be why monsters tend to lurk in shadows. "In shadows many things are seen vaguely (rather than clearly), thus tending to trigger the filling-in," says Prof Zhaoping.
 
It reminds me of the study that shows how are brains are wired to find "faces" in shapes. I think there is truth in there, but I also believe there is paranormal phenomena that can't be explained...at least as of yet. Thanks for sharing! :) Oh, personally, I don't see monsters lurking in shadows, they lurk in my closet at night, especially if I leave the door open. I just KNOW they are peeking at me!
 
And I lately see all the faces again everywhere, that I saw, when I was a child. I still LOVE that game, and think, that the faces nevertheless tell me something, about me, and should very well be taken seriously, in a way. . .;-)

Here is a page with prof Li Zhaoping, actually:

http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/Z.Li/

Look at her biography!
 
I could show you many rock faces, animals etc. by the way. Such things are completely normal and common, but if you find this, it tells you something, also that you are "ready" for this. Its there, all the time, like everything. And no one can tell you, its not, it IS.

Thats what many people don't realise. . .
 
Interesting article there indeed. This is not, actually, the first study in this general area, however, but it does uphold others in that this is a brain matter far more often than not. To that extent, what one sees is...as has been put forth before on that other thread...it's internal reality.

It's not really a wonder though, seeing how the human loves storytelling, that people have not put away that mislead 'ghost' concept though. There is no such thing as a ghost, in the usual definition.
 
Ghosts may or may not exist. Science's lack of finding something doesn't mean it's not there, it just means that science doesn't yet (or at all) have the means to find it, which could be due to the lack of existance or a lack of ability at that time.

I personally don't believe in ghosts (spiritual remnants), but i do believe in souls (spiritual beings that go some where else, far away from us). It's not up to me, though, to decide whether they exist or not, but i must point out that science is limited much more than people really see. In other places (including school), i have debated the limits of science, and the results usually make people think twice about believing what "scientists" say. But that would actually be off topic.

I'll be honest, i didn't read that article. I did, however, notice myself that overly spacious rooms, especially empty ones, and really small rooms or corridors always seem to be haunted. This space has always been suggestive to the human mind, and they want to fill it.
 
Thats also right :)
Its only a part of the story. . .yet an important part.

I myself had something repeatedly going on, even when I consciously calmed down, stood up, went to see it from another angle, because I was curious and very close, it was not really there. Yet, as soon, as I had the old position again, it was there again, and moved, like a shadow of a big dark bird in the higher corner of one room. . .
But only as long as there was a certain music of an african singer, who died very young . . .I had no fear and simply accepted it. It felt friendly.

Later I had several remarkable experiences around this music, all raven or bird related. It took me some time, to recognise it.

Although the musician was already dead, he led me to someone, also connected with raven stories, who was a big lover of this singer. In fact, that dead singer was his absolute hero, as it turned out, when he visited my own hometown for a concert. I could make an interview and played this music to him, because I wanted an explanation about the music. He was very touched to hear this singer and almost close to tears. So was I then.

He later had a very big sold out concert in Yokohama, where we met again (we met here and there anyhow, it just happened, a wonderfull handshake friendship, an african younger brother). So I gave him a certain fan from a Matsuri in a place in Tokyo, that also sold such raven fans. They were supposed to be hanged outside the door, to keep bad spirits away. I liked the idea itself and passed it on. No idea, if it works, it was the intention, that counts, with a smile. I think, he just liked the fan with the picture, like me. . .
Also short before I found out, that his birthtime was related to the raven, in an indian calender. . .
and there is one famous foto with him, where he is happily looking over someone's shoulder, like these big ravens on old pictures with Magicians and raven.

That "magician" on the other hand is the one, on whose place I saw the bird-shadow. He stepped into the room a bit later, while I was still touched by the vision, and all I could say, because the tape had already moved further: "Its on the other side". . .
The tape was for him anyhow, and he later met this "Raven", and I met the same "Raven" at my time afterwards.

Many of you know both of them. . .one also in relation to a film, called "Birdy", to which I could connect another musician, also bird-related. . .

I leave you guessing ;-)

There have also been some Japan relations very early about that "Magician", and he later made a CD in Japan, ever heard from "snowflake"?
I also still have the little present of the first soundtrack for Birdy, one of my received presents in this. ;-)

This is only the short form of the story, it implied much more.

I never had any raven fixation or so, but got a little one through all this, in a friendly way. I still love raven now. . .and think about all this, when I see some. There was one, visiting and watching me on the same bench, on the Akiyoshi plateau. We shared our lunch, of course. . .:)

But there are also wolf stories, and dolphin stories etc.

I am sure, the stories are all not yet finished.
 
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