How we see is a lot stranger than you might think. It turns out we never notice all kinds of things right in front of our eyes. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, training our eyes to see - really see. Also, how acclaimed writer Edward Hoagland went blind, and then miraculously regained his sight.
Daniel Simons is a psychologist at Harvard. He tells Steve Paulson about experiments he did where people failed to see really obvious things (like a woman in a gorilla suit) when their attention was distracted. Simons explains the relationship between vision and other brain systems. Also, Laura Sewall teaches Eco-psychology at Prescott College in Arizona. She tells Anne Strainchamps about training herself to really see, and talks about some trackers who have extraordinary visual abilities.SEGMENT 2:
Writer Edward Hoagland is famous for his lyrical essays. Cataracts and bad retinas eventually made him blind, until he found a surgeon who agreed to undertake a risky operation that restored Hoagland's sight. He tells Steve Paulson what it was like to become blind, and regain his sight. Hoagland's memoir is called "Compass Points."SEGMENT 3:
Art historian James Elkins has written a quirky guidebook called "How To Use Your Eyes." He thinks we miss a lot because we don't know how to really look. Elkins tells Jim Fleming how to see the Earth's shadow, what culverts tell us about the encroachment of civilization in the natural world, and how to examine your own inner eye. And, Frans Lanting is a wildlife photographer whose work appears in National Geographic and other magazines. He's just published a book called "Jungles." Lanting tells Steve Paulson that he must earn the trust of his wild subjects, and that humidity is the most destructive thing in the rain forest.Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 01-07-22-A.
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