4 ms·
What the f is there in the head that can make a sound like a bass guitar string?
by mjgs 5y ago
What the f is there in the head that can make a sound like a bass guitar string?
- op00to 5y agoNeurons constantly oscillate - firing at least to us randomly. It makes sense that after a “reboot” of sorts, your neurons may fire in something resembling the “frequency” that triggers “bass string” experience. Like the “bong” when you boot an old Mac.
- mjgs 5y agoSo an auditory hallucination?
- tedajax 5y agoCould be auditory processing of random synaptic firings.
- mjgs 5y agoI wonder how random that sort of thing is. I mean if the brain needs to make you pay attention because you’re overworked / burnt out, what better way than to fake a bass string sound? That would totally freak me out.
- dTal 5y agoYour brain. All sound perception ultimately comes from there.
- mjgs 5y agoIt’s wild that the brain can just make sounds up like that. Now I’m wondering how much of the soundscape I hear is real. Seems like that’s something that could be exploited.
- hprotagonist 5y agoto go all sophomoric on you; that sure depends on what you think “real” means! (you might like listening to the mcgurk effect, or shepard tones)
- mjgs 5y agoReal as in generated by the external world, rather than generated by the brain.
- hprotagonist 5y agowhat’s the difference? where does “external” start and “brain” end?
- mjgs 5y agoUnfortunately if the brain has been trained to create fake sounds, then that becomes really difficult to determine. But conceptually there is an thing which is the brain and there are things that are external to the brain.
- icedchai 5y agoThe same is true of every sense. How do you think hallucinations work? I’ve experienced phantom sounds and sensations. Visual almost never though.
- mjgs 5y agoMy impression was that hallucinations only happened under extreme conditions, like drugs, alcohol, heat etc, but it’s a bit worrying that it could happen basically anytime. If the brain “learns” that it can accomplish things via this method, then that could be really problematic.
- icedchai 5y agoPossibly... I have had minor auditory hallucinations while I'm falling asleep. Most often it is a single sound, like a high pitched ding or bong. It sounds like a notification, but very unlike one from my phone. It is definitely purely internal.
- hprotagonist 5y agosounds in the world and percepts of sounds to you are at best loosely related.
- mjgs 5y agoWhat do you mean by loosely? Whenever I hear a car horn, they always sounds very similar.
- hprotagonist 5y agopressure waves in the air are objective. Your conscious experience (“percept”) of them are subjective and contingent on your current mental state, health, attention, etc. Psychoacoustics is a real wild trip. my point was that in order for you to hear a bass guitar sounding noise, no external stimulus is required.