Implicit Association

www.implicit.harvard.edu

This site contains some tests showing the research done by Harvard about rapid cognition and implicit association. Images are flashed quickly in front of you, and you're asked to reponded by associating them to certain categories. I tried the fat/thin association test. Images of fat and thin people were shown, and I had to put them into categories of good and bad. Below are my results:



Your Result
Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Thin People compared to Fat People.
The interpretation is described as 'automatic preference for Thin People' if you responded faster when Thin faces and Good words were classified with the same key than when Fat faces and Good words were classified with the same key. Depending on the magnitude of your result, your automatic preference may be described as 'slight', 'moderate', 'strong', or 'little to no preference'.

What's important here is that the research utilizes instant rapid response to uncover one's implicit association to a particular topic. It recognizes the importance of the glimpse as opposed to gaze. If you were to take too long to complete the test, results are not given. Implicit association proves the power of the blink.

Subliminal Advertising

Subliminal advertising is where campaigns are flashed for 1/28th of a second during a tv show, exploiting the viewer's subconsious to as the advertising scheme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMzbwa6PvEE
Watch this clip from IronChef America. Everything proceeds as normal, and suddenly a red flash appears. You brain is not quick enough to accurately percieve what the flash is, but without reason, you start to feel hungry. You start to crave for fast food... slowing the clip down reveals that in a split second frame, an icon of Maccers pops up. Quickly enough for one to ignore, but also effective enough for the subconscious to capture.
Subliminal advertising is proof of rapid cognition. Subliminal advertising is proof of the blink.

Parables for the Virtual

Parables for the Virtual - Movement, Affect, Sensation
Recently I've been reading this book by Massumi. Massumi's writing is fascinating. He always starts of describing a captivating situation or study, and the analyses in his own terms. The chapter I'm reading is on movement vision. He talks about quasi corporeality, event, proprioceptive memory, visceral perception, mesoperception etc. It sounds intriguing, yet I have no idea really, what they mean. I imagine he is giving a scientific and academic analysis of the fact that the body responds faster than the brain. I imagine the book is an in depth study of perception and this idea of affect (intuition/sense/that feeling of jolt, which cannot be explained). I imagine it will be useful in my thesis when I'm talking about the moment of perception or the moment of blink (ie. glimpse). Confused? I am. I'll keep reading. Let me know your thoughts.

First go at Abstract

Blink: Why Superficiality is more Authentic than Reality

Blink is rapid cognition, spontaneous decisions, the part of our brain that leaps to conclusions instantaneously under stressful circumstances. Blink is the judgement given to something in the first two seconds of any situation. Eg. When you first meet someone, when you pick up a book and scan the cover and blurb, products that we see on shelves and the decision whether to buy them or not.

The honours report will combine this social phenomenon with the aesthetics and surface of architecture. The dominant argument taught in architecture is that form follows function, that surface should be a reflection of substance, and that experiential qualities of a building are integral to good architecture.

The report argues that the architectural implications of Blink results in a phenomenon where surface can be separated from the building, and the image or skin of the building is more valuable than the experience or occupancy of the building. People will make judgements on the building within the first two seconds of seeing it (usually they see the building through Google street view or magazine) and this initial formulation of opinion is more important than anything else. In this sense, the surface, photograph or image of the building has more social and economic implications than the actual physical presence.