The Holographic Universe Read Online Free Page B

unusual, but brain
researchers have long realized it is quite a complex ability. For example, the
absolute certainty we feel when we spot a familiar face in a crowd of several
hundred people is not just a subjective emotion, but appears to be caused by an
extremely fast and reliable form of information processing in our brain.
    In a 1970 article in the
British science magazine Nature , physicist Pieter van Heerden proposed
that a type of holography known as recognition holography offers a way
of understanding this ability. * In recognition
holography a holographic image of an object is recorded in the usual manner,
save that the laser beam is bounced off a special kind of mirror known as a focusing
mirror before it is allowed to strike the unexposed film. If a second
object similar but not identical to the first, is bathed in laser light and the
light is bounced off the mirror and onto the film after it has been developed,
a bright point of light will appear on the film. The brighter and sharper the
point of light, the greater the degree of similarity between the first and
second objects. If the two objects are completely dissimilar, no point of light
will appear. By placing a light-sensitive photocell behind the holographic
film, one can actually use the setup as a mechanical recognition system.
    A similar technique
known as interference holography may also explain how we can recognize
both the familiar and unfamiliar features of an image such as the face of
someone we have not seen for many years. In this technique an object is viewed
through a piece of holographic film containing its image. When this is done,
any feature of the object that has changed since its image was originally
recorded will reflect light differently. An individual looking through the film
is instantly aware of both how the object has changed and how it has remained
the same. The technique is so sensitive that even the pressure of a finger on a
block of granite shows up immediately, and the process has been found to have
practical applications in the materials-testing industry.
    PHOTOGRAPHIC
MEMORY
    In 1972, Harvard vision
researchers Daniel Pollen and Michael Tractenberg proposed that the holographic
brain theory may explain why some people possess photographic memories (also
known as eidetic memories). Typically, individuals with photographic
memories will spend a few moments scanning the scene they wish to memorize.
When they want to see the scene again, they “project” a mental image of it,
either with their eyes closed or as they gaze at a blank wall or screen. In a
study of one such individual, a Harvard art history professor named Elizabeth,
Pollen and Tractenberg found that the mental images she projected were so real
to her that when she read an image of a page from Goethe's Faust her
eyes moved as if she were reading a real page.
    Noting that the image
stored in a fragment of holographic film gets hazier as the fragment gets
smaller, Pollen and Tractenberg suggest that perhaps such individuals have more
vivid memories because they somehow have access to very large regions of their
memory holograms. Conversely, perhaps most of us have memories that are much
less vivid because our access is limited to smaller regions of the memory
holograms.
    THE TRANSFERENCE
OF LEARNED SKILLS
    Pribram believes the
holographic model also sheds light on our ability to transfer learned skills
from one part of our body to another. As you sit reading this book, take a
moment and trace your first name in the air with your left elbow. You will
probably discover that this is a relatively easy thing to do, and yet in all
likelihood it is something you have never done before. It may not seem a
surprising ability to you, but in the classic view that various areas of the
brain (such as the area controlling the movements of the elbow) are
“hard-wired,” or able to perform tasks only after repetitive learning
has caused the proper neural connections to become