If you see the picture exactly as it is, you are using the left side of your brain. When you stare, you will see the figure shift and you will see the side of the face. Now you are using your intuitive right brain. You can switch back and forth between a frontal image and a side image.
Staring gets into the right brain (it sort of trances you out or puts you in an altered NON THINKING state). Begin thinking and reasoning about it and you will move back out of the altered state into Left brain thinking.
Now stare at this picture for a while….do you see this man turn his face and look toward the left? Do you see the shift in the eyes to the left? It did happen to me once, but when I tried it again it did not work. Is my thinking interfering with me seeing it again? Let us know your experience.

According to researchers Ap Dijksterhuis and Zeger van Olden, “conscious thought has shortcomings that can prevent sound decision making” (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 42, pg. 627-631). It has to do with the brain’s capacity to process information. The conscious mind is more limited: it can only consider a few facts at a time. So if a simple and easy decision needs to be made, (such as the color of dish towels) then by all means think about it. The factors that you think about when making a conscious decision are usually the things that you are drawn to at that moment; the negative is that these things are not necessarily the important things that make the most difference later on. Only after we have made a decision do we sometimes say to ourselves, “why didn’t I think about that when I made my decision?” Now you know your brain could not do it.

But if a decision is complex (such as buying a car or changing jobs), the unconscious mind has a much larger capacity and does a better job of integrating many more factors. For instance, when buying a car we may consciously focus on the color or the look of the car to the detriment of the gas mileage or trunk space. But if we learn about all of the features and sleep on it or let it roll around in our brains for a while without thinking about it,  the right decision will come through.

But there is one caveat – you do have to tell yourself that you must make a decision at some point. If you do this, it will kick start your unconscious mind to start working. Then when you are ready to make the decision, your gut will tell you which is the right way to go.

“The implication is that for complex choices, once you have done a certain amount of thinking to gather relevant information, further thinking is counterproductive. Instead, busy yourself with other tasks, and let your unconscious work on the problem.” Gareth Cook, Thought for Thinkers, Boston Globe.  The research has shown that not only did people make the right decision more often by following this model, but they were happier about their decision as well.

As you know, one of the things that we talk about in the Mind Tripping Show is how our eyes play tricks on our mind. So when we find something really cool that does this, we like to share it. And people are very clever in making this happen. Click on the image above to play this video. It is worth watching.

2. But it is not just our eyes that can deceive us. There was a study that was done to see if background music had any impact on the purchase of certain types of wine. One day German music would be played, the next French music. Did sales of German wines goes up if the German music was played? The answer was yes. When German music was playing,  more people would buy German wine. If there was French music playing, more French wine was sold. The researchers asked the customers who purchased wine if they remember any music playing in the background. Most people did not hear the music or could not remember what it was. If music can influence us this dramatically, what can images or smells do?

We’d love to hear about your experiences with how your senses were fooled. Leave comments here or on our Facebook Page: Mind Tripping Show.

His owner, Wilhem Von Osten, was a retired teacher and fully believed that he taught Hans to use his brain using sugar and carrots as incentives to learn and get the correct answers. At times it was even witnessed that Hans would give an answer to a question that Wilhelm Von Osten had not even asked. It was as if Hans was reading his owner’s mind!

But not everyone was convinced that Hans was actually thinking or had the ability to read minds.  Many people tested Hans to see if tricks were involved. Most came to the conclusion that there was no trickery – that indeed Hans was educated.

As with all good stories, there must be an antagonist. One psychologist by the name of Oscar Pfungst, a professor at Berlin University, did not want to believe in Hans’s ability to think so he put Hans through many tests.

Test 1: He had about 25 people test Hans without  Wilhelm Von Osten present. Hans answered the questions correctly with each person.

Test 2: What Pfungst observed is that his testers were unintentionally leaning forward, or moving their heads and that might be a cause for the correct answers. So he kept as still as possible and tested Hans himself. Yet Hans was still able to get the correct answer.

Test 3: He began to ask Hans questions standing farther and farther away from him. The farther away he was, the less and less accurate Hans’s answers became. And when Pfungt blindfolded Hans, he could not answer the questions at all.

This lead to Pfungst’s conclusion that Hans was perceptive in that he “read” the non-verbal clues provided to him by his owner and the testers, but he did not possess the ability to think. Perhaps his owner or a tester leaned in slightly or moved an arm or twitched his eyes. Hans picked up on these small movements. Hans was using his perception to watch for the smallest of clues… and it worked.

Although at the time Pfungst ruined Hans’ reputation, it did not take long for the public to welcome Hans back and he and Wilhelm Von Osten continued to travel and perform to enthusiastic crowds.

Yet if we think about what Hans really did – which is to watch the body language, unconscious/subconscious movements, facial expressions, etc. of his trainer and others – to get to the correct answer over and over again – that is pretty astonishing. It does beg the question, how much information do we give away without realizing it? I think that we have all experienced it when someone says to us “Don’t even think about it” or “Don’t look at me like that” and we are stunned because in our minds we did not say or do anything. Are we even aware of and can we be aware of that small gesture or smirk, or eye movement that gave it all away? What are we really telling people and animals every day with our bodies, eyes, movements? Or better yet, what unconscious expectations, beliefs, opinions, assumptions are we showing people everyday through non-verbal communications?

This Mind Trip left you with something to think about. Leave us comments on what you think.

The following will make you do a double take even if you’re traveling at 85mph on the interstate:

What I genuinely like about this guy is that not only does he grab your attention with that line, “Your wife is hot”, but even his name is pretty easy to remember.  This is a clever guy.

Audi and BMW play a game of chess on the billboards.  BMW took advantage of a situation and with some clever thinking created a funny moment.  I think what I liked about this was that it would only work here and that counts for a lot of clever points and it gets people talking.  That’s got to be good for business.

If you can’t read it, the Audi billboard says, “Your move BMW.”  The BMW billboard reads, “Checkmate”.

This is the same billboard battle between Kingfisher airlines and Jet Airways.

This is one of my favorites.  If this doesn’t get your attention, nothing will.

If you can’t read between the lines it says . . . The naked truth about our waitresses is that they only flirt with you to bet a better tip.  That is awesome advertising.

Sometimes it just takes a little funny line in an odd place that gets your attention.  You have to think that this church will definitely not be boring and probably a lot of fun to attend.   I wonder if they got any new members with this playful sign.

Finally, this last business, most likely does not need any additional advertising, but this was funny and entertaining.  I bet many people smiled at this bit of witty advertising.

This kind of advertising was meant to get into your head.  It was meant to be cerebral and witty.  And . . . for that it becomes a Mind Trip!

Gather them all around the table.  On the table you have a empty paper bag that is folded flat, an empty bowl,  and a bowl of oranges.

You tell them that before the party you were in a rush and you had to hurry up and purchase some items at the store.

As you say this, open the folded up paper bag.
I knew I was going to pick up some things to eat like oranges and some other things but then my I-phone went off.

As you say this, you place an orange in the bag.

Then I got a text that I had to answer.

Place another orange in the bag.

Then I got an important Email that I had to respond to.

Place another orange in the bag.

Finally, I know I was running late, so I grabbed one more item and took off.

Place one last orange in the bag.

When I got home I realized that I had to put everything out quickly.

You take out an orange out of the bag and place it in the empty bowl.

Of course, I know not everyone wants oranges, so I got an apple as well.

You take an apple out of the bag and place it in the bowl with the orange.

For a good party, variety is important.

You take a handful of strawberries out of the bag and put them in the bowl.

And just in case someone complains about my cooking . . .

You take a small bottle of antacid out of the bag.  You crumple up the bag and serve your fruit.

Pretty Cool… and a visual Mind Blower.

Here’s how it works…. Some of your Oranges are hollow.  Shock!

Hollow out an orange like this:

It should look like this when you are done.

You can now place an apple, a lemon, one of those small pocket sized bottles of antacid, some strawberries, or any bizarre item that comes to mind.

You don’t need the tops of the oranges.  You can throw them away.

Place some real oranges in the bowl.  Then place your three “Loaded” oranges so they cannot see the openings.  And them place a couple of real oranges on top of them.  This will look very natural.  Just don’t accidentally turn the bowl around.

I will generally place a loaded orange in the bag first.  They are not really paying attention just yet.  For the second orange, I will use a real orange.  I might even toss it in the air so they can see all the sides.  By this time the audience is a little bored.  They are thinking . .  OK, he’s putting oranges in a bag.  Finally, you place that last two “loaded” oranges in the bag.

The first thing out is another orange….boring!  But, this is where you want them because when you pull the apple out, they will gasp.  What just happened.  Then you will pull other non-orange items out and their mouths will be agape.   When all that is left in the paper bag is the empty orange peels, crumple up the bag and throw it behind the counter.

You’re amazing!

We hope that you have a very Happy New Year and that 2013 brings even more success, more celebrations, more happiness.

The answer to the crossword puzzle is below.