Sometimes a Spinning Dancer is Just That
In a previous post, I introduced an image of a spinning dancer and included the theory behind why some see her spinning to the right and some to the left (right brain versus left brain.)
An article today in the NY Post refutes that theory. They say it is something that happens entirely in the visual system (I thought the brain was part of the visual system??)
At the time, I remember being wary of how they could KNOW that it was a right/left brain phenomenon because a number of friends that are very "right brain" could not see it the way they were supposed to be able to see it. And vice versa. But, I went with the theory presented without digging deeper because I thought it was neat. And harmless.
Now I wonder.
I wonder how much of that happens? Recently on the Ellen Degeneres talk show, Dr. Wayne Dyer was talking about how research has shown that serotonin levels (a chemical that makes us happy) are increased when someone receives a gift of kindness. He cited that same research as stating that not only the receiver benefits from those happy feelings (serotonin increases) but the giver as well. Not only that but all of those witnessing the exchange had a similar increase in serotonin. Of course, I could infer so much from this. THIS is why people get addicted to doing service and get so high off of it. It made something make sense in my head. Only after talking about it with someone else did I go... wait a minute. Let me search for that research.
I'm pretty good at finding things on the internet and I couldn't find any indication of that research that he mentioned. I found many people asking where he got that fact from (it appears that the first time it was mentioned was in one of his books) but no one else is familiar with that study... including one psychiatry site I visited. Did he make it up and now other people are passing it around as fact? (including myself this weekend) If so, is that a bad thing? I mean, it's a nice, beautiful image.. what's the harm? That's the logic behind the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus after all.
Interesting, isn't it? Just for ourselves. What else are we accepting as truth because someone cites an authority in order to bypass our own system of questioning.
Question everything. Even me saying to question everything. Why not? What is there to lose?
An article today in the NY Post refutes that theory. They say it is something that happens entirely in the visual system (I thought the brain was part of the visual system??)
At the time, I remember being wary of how they could KNOW that it was a right/left brain phenomenon because a number of friends that are very "right brain" could not see it the way they were supposed to be able to see it. And vice versa. But, I went with the theory presented without digging deeper because I thought it was neat. And harmless.
Now I wonder.
I wonder how much of that happens? Recently on the Ellen Degeneres talk show, Dr. Wayne Dyer was talking about how research has shown that serotonin levels (a chemical that makes us happy) are increased when someone receives a gift of kindness. He cited that same research as stating that not only the receiver benefits from those happy feelings (serotonin increases) but the giver as well. Not only that but all of those witnessing the exchange had a similar increase in serotonin. Of course, I could infer so much from this. THIS is why people get addicted to doing service and get so high off of it. It made something make sense in my head. Only after talking about it with someone else did I go... wait a minute. Let me search for that research.
I'm pretty good at finding things on the internet and I couldn't find any indication of that research that he mentioned. I found many people asking where he got that fact from (it appears that the first time it was mentioned was in one of his books) but no one else is familiar with that study... including one psychiatry site I visited. Did he make it up and now other people are passing it around as fact? (including myself this weekend) If so, is that a bad thing? I mean, it's a nice, beautiful image.. what's the harm? That's the logic behind the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus after all.
Interesting, isn't it? Just for ourselves. What else are we accepting as truth because someone cites an authority in order to bypass our own system of questioning.
Question everything. Even me saying to question everything. Why not? What is there to lose?
