Austin Fontaine 
Megan Novelli http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reification.jpg
I have always found it amazing how the mind works especially when it comes to the laws of perception. Like the law of continuity which states that a pattern might be seen among items that are near each other. such as a picture of what appears to be two squares one partially behind the other but really its one square with an “L” shaped figure next to it. Why does the mind try to simplify what it see’s. This baffles me as I am a very analytical person and often over complicate thing as I look at them, not necessarily what objects, but more peoples choices and and scenarios. In any case I find it interesting that my mind would simplify one thing while complicating another. One could argue for evolutionary psychology I suppose, and say that simplifying objects that we see could come from a suspicion of dark objects that could be either prey or predator lying in wait in the habitat, while the complication of peoples choices could come from a suspicion of people in order to predetermine if they are a threat. Not necessarily my view, but just a thought. Also, why do some people have an inability to analyze what they see, like the picture of the vase made out of two faces looking at one another on page 468 of our text? Some people can see both points of view right off the back while others will struggle even after its been pointed out. The same goes for analyzing a conversation why do some perform such things and others could careless?
Earl Popp
12:27 pm, 10.11.10
I was listening to a conversation between some friends discussing how artists generally notice both representations in the vase/face image. His point was that you have to be able to see both sides in order to better create something unique and inspiring. Another one of my friends, a business major, shared this link with me:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Basically, right brained people will rule the marketing world. Can you see both sides?
Rebekah Hernandez
12:43 pm, 10.11.10
Perception is not simply what is actually there: the actual visual stimuli or the actual auditory stimuli. It is what is the person evaluates as important that will be perceived. For example, if someone is romantically interested in someone else and is in a room full of people he or she will undoubtedly tune other things out in an attempt to gather information about the romantic interest. Or as another example, our particular name holds importance to us. Therefore, if an individual is in a room full of people and hear their name from across the room the individual is more likely to hear their name (perceive the auditory stimuli) than if it had been someone else’s name. In summary, we perceive what we believe to be important. I hope that helps answer you last question.
Austin Fontaine
3:36 pm, 10.11.10
You already stated that you overanylize things when you look at them; just think about how much analysis would be necessary to go into looking at a piece fo rope tangled on the ground without the law of god continuation. You woudl percieve each and every section fo the rope as an individual strand up until an overlap occured. Then think of how you would have to justifu each piece iether growing or shrinking as you shifted the angle you were lookign at the rope from. The cognitive overload would have your head reeling before you could even figure out you were better off ignorign the stupid rope alltogether.