Evidence of High-Detail Perceptual Modeling in the Visual Cortex

Abstract

This informal but well-referenced description of an afterimage experiment called Ghost Tap provides persuasive and easily reproducible evidence that the visual cortex plays a significant role in certain classes of long-duration visual afterimages. Subjects of the experiment literally cannot discern the difference between the afterimage and reality, resulting in easy startling of the subjects when physical motion in the room no longer matches the persuasive afterimages they are perceiving. Anecdotal examples of less extreme versions of the same effect suggest that the Ghost Tap effect has, over centuries, intentionally and unintentionally helped persuade people of the existence of nominally “supernatural” effects that are just persuasive long-duration afterimages. While this description is informal, the easy reproducibility of the Ghost Tap makes it a good candidate for more precise and quantitative studies. One theory why Ghost Tap exists is that it is part of load reduction and speed enhancement strategy to compensate for the slow processing speeds of neurons. Maintaining a dynamic and predictive real-time model of likely sensory inputs from the external world would enable the brain to discard quickly and with minimal processing any sensory inputs that fall within the predictive tolerance limits to the current model state. A perceptive load reduction interpretation of the Ghost Tap argues that the ability of the brain to support dreaming in vivid detail is likely a direct corollary of its ability to create dream-like waking states for faster and more efficient processing of large sensory loads. If the brain regularly uses dream-like waking states to reduce data, more study of effects like Ghost Tap might help explain the frequency of pathologies in which perception becomes disconnected from reality.