This evening I will be speaking at Science Café SG, held at the Good Beer Company (2 Science Park Drive) at 8:30pm.

Can you trust your senses? The science of auditory perception and illusion

Abstract: There's more to what you hear than what meets the ear! People tend to assume that there is information out in the world that is perceived "objectively" by our senses, that we can trust what we see and hear, and that our memory is accurate and stable. But in actuality, our perception and understanding of the world depends not only on our sense organs, but on our background experience, expectations, and the high-level knowledge we've previously gained from interacting with the world. I will provide examples of visual and auditory tricks and illusions, and describe the important roles of top-down processing mechanisms and 'implicit learning' in our perception of the world. I will finish the talk by discussing some ways in which implicit learning is relevant in education and healthcare contexts.

For more information about the event, please see: www.facebook.com/events/180853409482248/