The complexity of the human brain

>>> here comes a smart looking self-aware guy on a cell. send him a cloud. he's getting closer, closer. and oh, the clown goes right by without drawing so much of a look. is this for real?

>> a clown riding a unicycle right past you in daylight on the sidewalk. how could you miss this? according to our next guest, there's a logical explanation why one person on the phone may miss the event. we're breaking it down with one of the experts features on head games , a final part airs this sunday. june 17th at 10:00 p.m . on the discovery channel . we were just chatting before the commercial and we don't really know all the variables that dictate, we have sort of linear analysis, but we don't know how the whole environment is working together in symphony, if you will. but we least seem to have some sense of why we don't like at the guy in the clown.

>> it's true. we really don't know what we're talking about with connection to the brain and its behaviors, one of the interesting things about this experiment is people may know about those experiments, count the number of balls and meanwhile, a gorilla walks by and you miss it. here, all that's going on is that you have a cell phone . so guys on their cell phone , gals on their cell phone walking through a campus.

>> an auditory stimulation is less -- another thing, by eye rs not being used.

>> this clown is in fact, your visual system has the information. but for some reason, you don't see it even in the least and it's because that event is unrelated to the event you're hearing, it has no connection. if it did, you might r consider it part of the same event and pay attention .

>> what does that teach us about context and reality to everything? in other words, if something -- have we the way we're using our brains.

>> well, one way to respond is that these are the way that these experiments are done are such that we can focus on the clown and we realize, but it's even happening now. right now, there's cameras. and i'm not paying attention to them. if we stand to the side of a tennis court and watch 12 games sim ul tan yously, we can choose to focus on the fourth one down and we don't really think about it. the other stuff is all in front of our visual field .

>> and in political context as well.

>> see now you're a discovery channel scientist and cable political pundit for the 2012 elections. they told me you have a test you want to conduct with me on the set. is that correct? well hold on a second, you can't just start staring at me. you have to tell the audience. i don't stare at you, but i will not stare at you as the host of the show.

>> it ruins it.

>> the way this works on tv is we have to explain the experiment --

>> but it's more creepy.

>> i understand, so let's try. we're going to test this. we're going to stare at each other and then after, we'll figure out what just happened. just want to audience to know so they don't think you're strange.

>> it's too late. for you, you're not going to be creeped out. let's start. now it's well-known -- what are you doing with your lips there? very strange. no, if you do this for a long period of time, men and women will have feelings they like each other.

>> they'll have sex, who are we kidding, doctor. food, sex -- staring means what?

>> so, in the experiment we did here, we had people show up to getting an oil change an they sit down in a waiting room and are having a conversation. everyone else are actors. at some point t owner walks in and says here's a special card for you. after this point, a special gift card so, it changes. suddenly, everybody begins to stare. at first, the actor's instructions are to do it covertly. never let them know you're staring, but soon, it's ramped up so they're just full on staring and watching the reactions are fascinating. they're sweating, blushing. often you blush more on the side of the face people are looking at you. here, they were looking on all sides. what's interesting about looking at somebody, why do people react to this. if you listen to somebody or smell somebody, you're not really directing anything toward them, but if you touch someone, it's quite different. when you touch somebody, it's more getting into their space and not only that, they know you're touching them. looking at someone is similar. i'm examining you and when i touch you with my eyes, you know it.

>> i feel you observing me. i don't necessarily feel you listening to me. if you're observing whoever the person --

>> and smell doesn't work that way, too. unless you're a dog.

>> i don't feel your smelling me. we're not dogs. but the point is --

>> but your eyes have evolved to be easy to see. we've got these white eyes , so they're really easy to tell. when all these people are looking at this poor mark, the sukt, they're not even looking away. they're saying i know that you know we're looking at you and we don't care.

>> that's almost either a confrontation, overture, it's something.

>> that's right. they were instructed not to put any anger face.

>> anybody do weird things with their lips like i did?

>> no, because i wasn't in the room.

>> that might be a unique thing that i just invented. put it on the show. do that with you, we'll submit it. a pleasure to know you.

>> thank you. check him out. not only a brain expert, but you can catch him on tv playing these very head games sunday night, june 17th at 10:00 p.m . on the discovery channel . thank you for coming over to play with us and teach us a little bit. again, coming