We’ve been having lovely sunny weather, and among other dreams of summer days and happiness, being outside has made me wonder about textures, and, specifically, why the warm summer light makes our stone campus look so soft. It’s curious to me that our brain biochemistry is so complex that we can take stimulus from one sensory organ and translate that stimulus to another sense. What? That’s crazy. But what’s even more crazy is that different light wavelengths can make objects seem soft, even when our brains “know” they’re rough (i.e., we have the tactile memory of the stones). I couldn’t find any articles on the biological mechanism of this translation, but I did find a psychological study that found some people are naturally adept at visually perceiving the texture of objects correctly. If any of you know what is going on on a biochemical level, please comment!
Article on visual tactile judgement (click here).