Jun 30, 2021 08:00:00

The flashing red and black 'Gantz flicker' is attracting attention as a clue to unravel the mystery of the ability to imagine images.

The cognitive traits such as 'I can't visualize the image in my head' and '

I don't feel any fear even if I read a sentence depicting fear ' are 'Aphantasia ', and conversely, the cognitive trait that can visualize a clear image in my head Is called 'hyperfantasia ' and much research has been done on both. Meanwhile, a research team at Edgehill University conducted an attempt to explore the characteristics of aphantasia and hyperfantasia from the experiment of 'keeping watching the image blinking in red and black for 10 minutes and answering the image that emerged'.

The Ganzflicker experience: High probability of seeing vivid and complex pseudo-hallucinations with imagery but not aphantasia --ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945221001957

Pseudo-hallucinations: why some people see more vivid mental images than others – test yourself here
https://theconversation.com/pseudo-hallucinations-why-some-people-see-more-vivid-mental-images-than-others-test-yourself-here-163025

The research team prepared the form linked below, and let the participants stare at the '(blinking caution) screen where red and black blink at high speed (Ganz flicker) ' for 10 minutes while letting the participants hear 'white noise'. I asked them to fill out the form with the image that emerged.

Ganzflicker Experience
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7Fs5gzrcJDUx_75JkZu6xwyGzJ3N9BfyOm6AzOJtqw4Ae3w/viewform

As a result, abstract answers such as 'I felt like I could reach another place from the screen' and 'I felt that the streaks of light began to rotate and the screen expanded' and 'The old stone castle I saw a concrete answer such as 'I saw it.' In addition, some respondents said, 'I can't think of any image.'

According to Richanne Leader , a member of the research team , the 'visual cortex ', which is the part of the brain that processes visual information, collects information at short intervals like the continuous shooting function of a camera. .. Therefore, there is a gap between information, but because the brain is processing to fill the gap, we can continuously recognize the world. When this 'sensory information processed by the brain' is Gantz flicker, the information collection cycle of the viewing angle and the blinking cycle of Gantz flicker interact to create an image that does not actually exist.

The information gathering cycle for this viewing angle varies from person to person, with some being slower and faster than the Gantz flicker blinking cycle. Mr. Leader said, 'People whose viewing angle information collection cycle is slower than the Gantz flicker blinking cycle will find it easier to find a concrete image. Conversely, if the viewing angle information collection cycle is faster than the Gantz flicker blinking cycle. , The interaction may be weakened, and the image may not come to mind, 'he said, pointing out that the difference between aphantasia and hyperfantasia lies in the difference in the information gathering cycle of the brain.

'Gantz flicker is a promising tool for understanding the relationship between individual differences in the information gathering cycle of the brain and cognitive traits,' said Leader, and he looks forward to future research using Gantz flicker.