[elx]

my association may also be from your usage of the word "oy" which, like zhukov, I didn't bother to even read before -- but it likely still influenced my thinking and made me biased towards british! interesting truth: even if we don't detect or consciously observe stimuli, our brain still processes it and communicates it across our minds. that process of filtering the stimuli has the ability to corrupt our thinking and has a temporary suggestive power over us.

for example, television producers could subliminally flash any image before us without us even realizing something had happened, if the length of the flash were short enough. the image could be of a glass of water, which we wouldn't see, but we'd probably still develop a sudden interest in thirst. or, they might flash cardboard and make us crave mcdonalds out of nowhere. not saying this is abused, but it has the potential to be! the same goes with sound too, and just about everything else.

it accounts for a lot of daily "coincidences" and spooks too, like when you "feel" that someone is behind you/or following you but you're not sure why. and then you turn around and they're there! it's because your brain was picking up on the sounds or change in temperature, or whatever, that would otherwise be undetectable within the human threshold. it then filtered that stimuli and sends you that thought as a warning, like, "hey dude someones about to stab you in the bum!"

or like whenever those neighbors in interviews are always like "Oh yeah, I always knew that guy was a creeper, I just saw something in him" blahblahblah, they think they all have superpowers but it's a very basic cognitive peculiarity that everyone does daily ;(

so even when you can't perceive, your mind does. and even when it can't tell you what's wrong, it'll still try to tell you that there's something. the lesson here is that you should always follow your instinct, even if it is out of the blue. unless you are watching television, then you should ignore all urges.

the other lesson is that psychophysics is awesome.