The two poles are parallel.  Really they are! I know that you want to get a ruler to measure.  I bet you’re looking for a ruler right now.  Ok, go ahead, get the ruler….measure…now do you believe me?

Take a look at a smaller version of the same picture.

When the details of the picture are too small to notice,  the flag poles look parallel.  There are many details in the big picture that are meant to draw the eyes in a particular direction.  Starting from the bottom:

• The flags are on opposite sides of a small hill.
• The poles have a distinctive yellow and black candy stripe.
• The flags on the tops of the poles point in opposite directions.
• The left side of the drawing has a bluer sky than the right side.

All of these factors are meant to deceive your eyes making it look like the bottom is closer together than the top.  It is only when we shrink the drawing down to its basic geometric shapes, thus eliminating the finer details of the drawing do we see how the lines really relate to each other.

If you get inside of an elevator and there is one other person in there with you, what is the one thing I know you will remember about them?

Think about it now…don’t scroll for the answer just yet.

Are you ready for the answer?  OK here it is.  You’ll remember their GENDER.

There are all kinds of reasons for this, but to keep it simple, gender is the biggest human discriminator.  When we start to evaluate someone, we begin with their gender.  We then make assumptions based off of that first evaluation, much like a logic tree.  Think along the lines of  gender, race, age, beauty, body type, clothing, social status, wealth,  and  on and on.  Studies have shown that if you introduce someone who’s gender is hidden or unclear, (Think Pat from the old Saturday Night Live sketches) people do not know how to react or interact with that person comfortably until their gender is established.

Our social interaction is based off of having certain knowledge of the person we are talking to, gender being at the top of the list.  It has been shown time and time again that even when people converse in on-line in chat rooms, the first defining question asked is one of gender.  Most times, even without realizing it, your mind will ascertain the gender of the person you were on the elevator with, even though you did not interact at all.  This happens even if you weren’t paying attention, like if you were texting on your cell phone.

If you would like to have a better memory, here is an easy to read article on How to Remember Things.

Now, quickly, what do you do when you come to a green light?

If you said STOP . . . Oops, you GO at a green light.

This test is more effective when you speak the instructions to another person. (Try it with your family and friends) When reading the instructions, a higher percentage will catch the mental hick-up of the green light question. But when you do this with your friend as a verbal instruction, you will find that over 90% of the time they will answer . . .Stop!

The reason that most people automatically answer “stop” is that you are accustomed to hearing the question, “ What do you do when you come to a red light?”. But we are not accustomed to hearing the question, “What do you do when you come to a green light?”. Our brain makes an automatic correction on two levels: one, you just spelled shop 3 times and and the word closest to shop is stop and two, you see red not green when you think of a stop light. Although ‘traffic light’ might be a more accurate term, we still use the term ’stop light’ frequently. It is part of our vocabulary. I know I don’t ever say “Make a turn at the next go light”. I think in terms of it being a stop light for the purpose of stopping. In addition, the mind wants to accomplish things as fast as possible so it makes assumptions. When we hear some instructions or a question our brain skips over the details we feel are unimportant or repetitive and we answer based on what our brain assumed it heard. This happens unconsciously. Very Trippy.

1. Read all the words from right to left, down the chart. Do that now.
That was pretty easy and I bet you did that pretty fast.

2. Now, say out loud the color of the letters of the word. Don’t worry about what the word is, just its color. Go!

I bet you found that to be surprisingly difficult. You made pauses as you corrected yourself. The reason is that you are challenging your left (logical) brain that wants to read the words and your right (creative) brain that is trying to identify the colors. In this monumental battle,the brain that wants to read the words has a slight edge, because we read words so much more in our daily activities. This is why you have no problem reading them the first way, but a bit of a struggle when you try and say the colors.

The effect is named after John Ridley Stroop who first published the effect in English in 1935.

The best succinct way that I found to explain this was a taken from the following website: http://www.rit.edu/cla/gssp400/sbackground.html “Since the original study, the Stroop effect has been investigated in a variety of ways. One general finding is that the Stroop effect is very robust. For example, the Stroop effect extends to color-related words (e.g. sky and fire). It extends to non-words that sound like color words (e.g. wred and bloo). It occurs with the words are presented suboptimally (dim, faded, small, etc.). It is resistant to practice. In summary, the difficulty of removing the interference effect of the Stroop task has led some researchers to claim that the brain is wired to recognize words without effort. This explanation is called the “automatic word recognition hypothesis” (or automaticity hypothesis), and it is so widely accepted that it is often given, in psychology textbooks, as the only answer to the Stroop effect. According to this theory, reading is an automatic process, which cannot be turned off. In other words, people see the meaning or words without much effort or consciousness. On the other hand, naming colors is not automatic. It requires more effort than reading, thus creating interference in the Stroop task.”

There is so much information on the web if you would like to continue researching more about this. Here are 2 websites I recommend:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_effect

http://snre.umich.edu/eplab/demos/st0/stroopdesc.html

My dominant hand, right index finger, was the one that set the pace and the direction of the movement. My left index finger could not keep up and seemed confused moving back and forth, very choppy and uncoordinated, instead of in a circular motion.

But when I tried rotating the fingers in opposite directions to begin with, my fingers had no problem. No matter how fast you go, your fingers will continue to move in opposite directions with seemingly no effort on your part. This feels like the natural way your fingers should move.

With great practice and concentration you can overcome this particular quirk and make them move in the same direction. However, for researchers and mind trippers it is an interesting footnote to understand that we react naturally in ways that are hardwired into our brain. Our brain is wired in very particular ways. There is so much research on the brain, but a couple of good articles about the brain hand connection are the following:

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/01/brain.aspx

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/10/21/130719927/gestures-involved-in-early-language

We had a fabulous time at the Indy Reads Spelling Bee. Here we are with Jeff Knurek (cartoonist for the Jumbles puzzle) and Tambra (a figure fitness competitor). Lou Harry from the IBJ was the Master of Ceremonies.

I am just happy that we did not have to try and spell these words. We even had to practice how to pronounce some of them to make sure that it was in accordance Webster’s Dictionary. But the teams had a wonderful time and it was a really great fundraiser for Indy Reads.

“Indy Reads believes that everyone should have an opportunity to learn to read. Our mission is to improve the literacy skills of adults in Central Indiana who read or write at or below the sixth grade level. Our goal is to “Make Indianapolis 100% Literate.” Indy Reads is the only organization in Indianapolis, accredited by ProLiteracy Worldwide, which uses volunteers to provide basic literacy tutoring to illiterate and semi-literate adults. Our programming includes one-on-one tutoring, small group sessions, English as a Second Language instruction, and “Literacy Labs” at neighborhood centers.” To learn more about what they do, please go to http://indyreads.org

Congratulations to everyone who came out and gave it their best shot! I hope that everyone had as much fun as we did and congratulations to the winners.

1st Place: Plews Shadley Racher & Braun – Freshman Dorm
2nd Place: Eugene & Marilyn Glick Eye Institute – Team Ophthalmology: How do you spell it?
3rd Place: Indianapolis Public Library – The Lexicons
Honorable Mention Taft – Team Taft

Best Costume: Girls Inc. – ZomBees
Team Spirit: IndyGo – BUSy Bees
Best Name: Junior League of Indianapolis – The Miss Spellers

Individual Audience Winner – Scott Shoger – NUVO
Runner Up Audience – Kathleen McLaughlin – IBJ

A big thanks to Travis DiNicola, the Executive Director of Indy Reads for having us at this wonderful event.

We wanted to do something just for the new bride and groom so we performed a special intimate piece just for the two of them.

Betsy looked stunning in her gown, hair and flowers. It was a fabulous event!

Is premonition possible, can things move on their own, is it possible to communicate with those that have passed on to another realm? Perhaps you will be able to answer these questions better after a visit to the Shadowland Show.

They were also recognized for their wonderful show, Mind Tripping.  This sell-out show toured the country for 4 years and is currently playing at the Downtown Indianapolis Hilton Hotel and Suites.  They are the number one Husband and Wife Comedy Mind Reading show in the nation.  They have performed on Cruise Ships, Colleges, and recently played at the prestigious Friar’s Club in New York City.

After the presentation, Christian and Katalina wowed the audience with a portion of their act.  The room was elegant and the audience electric as they played with magicians from around the country.

Also during the 4 day convention, Christian & Katalina gave a highly successful talk about performing mentalism all over the world in various venues.

After spending many days conferring with some of the top professional magicians in North America, Christian and Katalina made their way back to their home in Indianapolis where they continue to mystify audiences with their fantastic show.

Over the Indy 500 weekend, it was so much fun performing at the Hilton because of all the interesting people that we met. Two people, Jim and Neil, definitely stand out. Both are involved in a unique electronic music festival called Shambhala.

First, the name is really cool. The history of Shambhala is that it is a mythical place where all the inhabitants are enlightened beings full of happiness, peace, and tranquility. I think that they are really trying to capture the essence of this mythical place. Who wouldn’t want to be in Shambhala? I know I would.

“Shambhala is a celebration of music, art and life.” It is a family run festival. Jim’s family owns the property or as they like to call it “The Farm” on which the festival takes place. The philosophy behind the festival is one of creativity, expression, and fun. A place where individuals can listen to some fantastic electronic music while expressing themselves in an accepting, community and family environment.There are 6 stages and my favorite is called the Fractal Forest.

The festival takes place in Salmo, British Columbia, north of Spokane, Washington. It is a 6 day festival in August with 10,000 people. By the time that I checked the Shambhala website in May, the festival was sold out. I have a feeling that they have a rabid following and they sell out each year very quickly.

Jim and Neil were great guys. It was a unique experience for them to come to Indianapolis for the 500, just as I am sure it would be a unique experience to go to their music festival. I recommend that you check out the website and if you have some time in August next year, to make a road trip. This may the most interesting thing you have done all year…besides coming to the Mind Tripping Show of course.