Interestingly, Rebecca Schwarzlose, a cognitive neuroscientist researching brain and cognitive development at Washington University in Saint Louis, says missing the point is part of human nature.
"You perceive only a small fraction of the energy and information buzzing all around you," Schwarzlose wrote. "Much of that ... information goes unseen and unfelt because your body lacks the capacity to detect it. Whereas birds can see ultraviolet light, snakes can see infrared light, insects can see the polarization of light, mice can hear ultrasonic frequencies, and electric fishes can detect faint electric signals with their skin, you can do none of these things because your eyes, skin, and ears lack the cellular machinery that would allow you to detect them."
Schwarzlose said territory in our brain is much like Manhattan real estate. It's both finite and expensive.
"Brains evolve and develop to make the most of that modest terrain. Your brain maps are distorted to save energy and space. And these distortions, in turn, distort how you perceive your world," she said.
Consider your sense of sight for a second. You can see far more detail at your center of gaze, or where you are looking at any given moment, than out of the corner of your eye.
"Ideally, you would be able to see things equally well out of the corner of your eye as you do at your center of gaze. But you need more neurons, and more connections between those neurons, to represent fine details," Schwarzlose said.
"In order to see equally well in your visual periphery as you do at your center of gaze, the visual maps in your brain would have to be thirteen times larger. If this change sounds innocuous, think again. It would make your visual brain maps alone too large to fit inside your skull. And that would leave no room for the brain maps you rely upon to hear, feel, and move."
To avoid such outcomes, brain maps devote most of their real estate to representing detailed information from "sweet spots" for perception, at the expense of basically everything else.
"Oddly enough, your ability to perceive crucially depends on all that you don't perceive. Thanks to our limited senses and distorted brain maps, you can experience and interact with your world... and do it all with a brain that's smaller than a breadbox."
So if you don't get some of these images, don't sweat it!
