Stroop Effect

Background: The Stroop effect is an exhibition of intrusion. In this experiment, the brain slows down its processing time because it is thinking and observing through conflicting and confusing information that tricks our mind and makes us believe different things.

Procedures: In the Stroop Effect, a person is handed a list of words with the name of different colors printed in varicolored ink of the same colors but placed differently. They are later asked to name the color of the ink used on each word. They are timed to see how long they take to do this.

Results: Because of the minds trick on the person’s reactions, this individual’s time of reaction is delayed. This is because the person's brain is trying to hold back the input from the printed words in order to focus on the color of the words; this is considered the “trick” our brains usually fall in to creating a confusion that causes us to say the wrong color by saying the word.

For example: Look at the following list of words: yellow, red, green, purple, brown, blue. Try to name the colors each word is written in as fast as you can do it. You may find that you are continually hesitating or stumbling on the words or go back to it and saying them again. This is because your brain is attempting to process two conflicting pieces of information: a color, and a word naming a color, which confuses us greatly. The Stroop effect is confusing but still a good exercise for our brains. Try the one bellow!!

The Myth of Multitasking

1. Multitasking is considered a myth because of the fact that it is only a trick that makes us believe that we are doing many things at once when really we are switching them. This switch leads us to be less productive that what we would be if only did one task at a time.

2. The term "response selection bottleneck" refers to the condition in which the brain, in an attempt to respond to many things at the same time, losses time because of the delayed decision of which task it should accomplish primarily.

3. David Meyers’s discovery is important because he discovered that the “art” of “multi-tasking” releases stress hormones and adrenaline. These releases are of high risk to the human body because of the effects they have like, short-term memory loss and long-term heath problems.

4. Russell Podrack found that this so called “multi-tasking” affects your learning skills. Although this action appears more efficient, it is actually less effective because this makes it harder for you to remember or retain information as well as if you did everything at its own time. He also mentioned how humans are not cutoff to live such a hectic and busy life.

5. The author concludes that we will probably adapt to this environment affecting our future societies who will suffer the consequences including: less productivity because of the difficulty of retaining the information that leads to a weak society, long-term health problems, and short-term memory loss.

Observations of the BaMbuti Pygmies

The Bambuti Pygmies were a tribe in Africa who live in the Ituri Forest for many years. They were characterized because of their singing, dancing and rituals, they were called “the people of the trees” because of this. Before more studies were done, they were referred to as “subhuman monsters” or even “creatures flying the treetops”. Colin Turnbull was a famous British-American anthropologist who studied many different tribes and cultures especially in Africa. He became extremely attracted to the Bambuti Pygmies as he continued studying their culture and society as one of the oldest indigenous ones in Africa. They started out as solitary individuals who traveled in small groups, these later evolved into four cultures: the Efe, the Aka, the Sua and the MBUTI. The Mbuti tribes were famous for being independent and variety of goods and food. These people were also distinguished because of their harsh and strict rules. Traditions were very important for these people; the major beliefs were the unity of families. The families’ houses were temporary because of their nomad life since they were hunters and gatherers. They usually migrated to the rainforests in dry seasons. In one of Colin’s expeditions in these tribes, one of the translators was amazed when he saw bulls running towards him and perceived their change in size; the translator was tricked by what is called now an optical illusion. Colin made many small discoveries like this one that shaped others perception; these pygmies had such a small knowledge that they considered optical illusion as magic. Colin’s discoveries of perception shaped what they later learned and what we know now.

Colin Turnbull

Early life:Colin lived from November 23, 1924 (London) until July 28, 1994. He studied in Westminster School and Magdalen College, Oxford. There he studied politics and philosophy. He later went to Banaras Hindu University in India to study Indian religion and philosophy.

Professional life:Colin became a famous British-American anthropologist. He came to public attention with two popular books: The Forest People which was on the Mbuti Pygmies of Zaire, and The Mountain People based on the Ik people of Uganda; and also one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of ethnomusicology.

Time working in Africa:Colin later became an expert in Pygmy tribes; this caused him to become very interested in African tribes. He grabbed his motorcycle and left to Africa to continue his studies on the Pygmies in which he was so deeply interested in. He visited African Pygmies six times where he studied their language, religion and native music. With all the experience with the African tribes, Colin was able to write many documentaries and works that focused on African tribes especially the Pygmies. Colin later fell in love with a poor African man named Joe Towels, starting an open gay relationship, moving in with him in New York.

Later life:Towels later died of AIDS, (after analyzing several rituals of the African tribes) making Turnbull want to become a Buddhist monk. Turnbull later died of pneumonia in 1994.