Vision is the most important and prioritized sense that we have. We are constantly looking at the world around us, and quickly we identify and make sense of what it is that we see.
A vista é o sentido máis importante e fundamental que temos. Estamos constantemente mirando ao mundo que nos rodea, e rapidamente identificamos e comprendemos o que estamos vendo.
Let's just start with an example of that very fact. I'm going to show you a photograph of a person, just for a second or two, and I'd like for you to identify what emotion is on his face. Ready? Here you go. Go with your gut reaction. Okay. What did you see? Well, we actually surveyed over 120 individuals, and the results were mixed. People did not agree on what emotion they saw on his face. Maybe you saw discomfort. That was the most frequent response that we received. But if you asked the person on your left, they might have said regret or skepticism, and if you asked somebody on your right, they might have said something entirely different, like hope or empathy. So we are all looking at the very same face again. We might see something entirely different, because perception is subjective. What we think we see is actually filtered through our own mind's eye.
Comecemos cun exemplo disto que comento. Vouvos ensinar a fotografía dunha persoa, tan só durante un ou dous segundos, gustaríame que identificarades cal é a emoción da súa cara. Estades listos? Veña! Dicide o primeiro que pensedes. Vale. Que vistes? Nós preguntámoslles a máis de 120 persoas, e os resultados foron variados. A xente non se poñía de acordo en cal era a emoción que vían. Quizais, vistes malestar. Esa é a resposta máis común que recibimos. Pero, a persoa da vosa esquerda puido dicir arrepentimento ou escepticismo, e a da vosa dereita se cadra dixo algo completamente distinto, como esperanza ou empatía. Todos estamos vendo a mesma cara. E podemos ver algo totalmente diferente, porque a percepción é subxectiva. O que pensamos que vemos en realidade pasa polo filtro da nosa propia mente.
Of course, there are many other examples of how we see the world through own mind's eye. I'm going to give you just a few. So dieters, for instance, see apples as larger than people who are not counting calories. Softball players see the ball as smaller if they've just come out of a slump, compared to people who had a hot night at the plate. And actually, our political beliefs also can affect the way we see other people, including politicians. So my research team and I decided to test this question. In 2008, Barack Obama was running for president for the very first time, and we surveyed hundreds of Americans one month before the election. What we found in this survey was that some people, some Americans, think photographs like these best reflect how Obama really looks. Of these people, 75 percent voted for Obama in the actual election. Other people, though, thought photographs like these best reflect how Obama really looks. 89 percent of these people voted for McCain. We presented many photographs of Obama one at a time, so people did not realize that what we were changing from one photograph to the next was whether we had artificially lightened or darkened his skin tone.
Por suposto, hai moitos máis exemplos de como vemos o mundo desde a nosa perspectiva. Imos ver algúns. As persoas que están a dieta, por exemplo, ven as mazás máis grandes que os que non están contando calorías. Os xogadores de sóftbol ven a pelota máis pequena se pasan unha mala racha en comparación cos que tiveron éxito. De feito, as nosas conviccións políticas tamén afectan á forma na que vemos á xente, incluídos aos políticos. O meu equipo de investigación e mais eu decidimos probar esta hipótese. En 2008, Barack Obama era candidato á presidencia por primeira vez, e levamos a cabo un estudo con centos de estadounidenses un mes antes das eleccións. A enquisa mostrou que algúns estadounidenses pensan que fotos coma estas reflicten o aspecto real de Obama. Desas persoas, o 75% votaron por el nas eleccións. Outros, porén, pensaban que fotos coma estas reflectían mellor o verdadeiro aspecto de Obama. O 89% destas persoas votaron por McCain. Mostramos moitas fotos de Obama unha de cada vez, de modo que a xente non se daba conta de que o que cambiábamos dunha foto a outra era que aclaráramos ou escurecéramos artificialmente o ton da pel. Como é isto posible?
So how is that possible? How could it be that when I look at a person, an object, or an event, I see something very different than somebody else does? Well, the reasons are many, but one reason requires that we understand a little bit more about how our eyes work. So vision scientists know that the amount of information that we can see at any given point in time, what we can focus on, is actually relatively small. What we can see with great sharpness and clarity and accuracy is the equivalent of the surface area of our thumb on our outstretched arm. Everything else around that is blurry, rendering much of what is presented to our eyes as ambiguous. But we have to clarify and make sense of what it is that we see, and it's our mind that helps us fill in that gap. As a result, perception is a subjective experience, and that's how we end up seeing through our own mind's eye.
Como pode ser que cando miramos a unha persoa, un obxecto ou un acontecemento vexamos algo completamente diferente de como o ven os demais? Hai moitas razóns, pero unha require que entendamos un pouco mellor o funcionamento dos nosos ollos. Os especialistas en visión saben que a cantidade de información que podemos percibir nun momento dado, que podemos enfocar, en realidade é moi pequena. O que podemos ver con gran nitidez, claridade e precisión é equivalente á superficie do noso polgar tendo o brazo estendido. Todo o demais é borroso, o que fai que o resto da información se presente como ambigua para os nosos ollos. Pero hai que aclarar e dar sentido ao que vemos, e é a nosa mente a que nos axuda a completar os espazos baleiros Como consecuencia, a percepción é unha experiencia subxectiva e é así como acabamos vendo desde o noso punto de vista.
So, I'm a social psychologist, and it's questions like these that really intrigue me. I am fascinated by those times when people do not see eye to eye. Why is it that somebody might literally see the glass as half full, and somebody literally sees it as half empty? What is it about what one person is thinking and feeling that leads them to see the world in an entirely different way? And does that even matter? So to begin to tackle these questions, my research team and I decided to delve deeply into an issue that has received international attention: our health and fitness. Across the world, people are struggling to manage their weight, and there is a variety of strategies that we have to help us keep the pounds off. For instance, we set the best of intentions to exercise after the holidays, but actually, the majority of Americans find that their New Year's resolutions are broken by Valentine's Day. We talk to ourselves in very encouraging ways, telling ourselves this is our year to get back into shape, but that is not enough to bring us back to our ideal weight. So why? Of course, there is no simple answer, but one reason, I argue, is that our mind's eye might work against us. Some people may literally see exercise as more difficult, and some people might literally see exercise as easier.
Son psicóloga social, son estes temas os que espertan en min verdadeiro interese. Fascínanme estes casos nos que as persoas non ven o mesmo. Por que alguén pode ver o vaso medio cheo mentres que outros, literalmente, o ven medio baleiro? Que pensamentos e sentimentos os leven a ver o mundo dunha maneira completamente diferente? E acaso importa? Para responder a estas preguntas o meu equipo de investigación e máis eu decidimos investigar a fondo un tema que recibiu moita atención internacional: a saúde e a condición física. En todo o mundo a xente loita por controlar o seu peso, e hai unha serie de estratexias que nos axudan a evitar eses quilos de máis. Por exemplo, poñemos moito empeño en facer exercicio despois das vacacións, pero a maioría de estadounidenses descobren que os seus propósitos de aninovo quedan en nada o día de San Valentín. Falámonos e dámonos ánimo, prometéndonos que este é o ano para poñerse en forma, pero non é suficiente para que volvamos ao noso peso ideal. Por que? Claro que non hai unha resposta simple, pero unha das razóns que sosteño, é que o noso punto de vista traballa contra nós. Algunhas persoas ven o exercicio físico como algo difícil, mentres que outras o ven como algo moi fácil.
So, as a first step to testing these questions, we gathered objective measurements of individuals' physical fitness. We measured the circumference of their waist, compared to the circumference of their hips. A higher waist-to-hip ratio is an indicator of being less physically fit than a lower waist-to-hip ratio. After gathering these measurements, we told our participants that they would walk to a finish line while carrying extra weight in a sort of race. But before they did that, we asked them to estimate the distance to the finish line. We thought that the physical states of their body might change how they perceived the distance. So what did we find? Well, waist-to-hip ratio predicted perceptions of distance. People who were out of shape and unfit actually saw the distance to the finish line as significantly greater than people who were in better shape. People's states of their own body changed how they perceived the environment. But so too can our mind. In fact, our bodies and our minds work in tandem to change how we see the world around us.
Como primeiro paso para comprobar estas cuestións reunimos datos obxectivos sobre a condición física dos candidatos. Medimos a súa cintura, comparámola coa circunferencia das súas cadeiras. Un índice cintura-cadeira alto indica unha peor forma física que un índice cintura-cadeira baixo. Despois de tomar estas medidas, pedímoslles aos participantes que camiñaran ata unha liña de meta levando peso, como nunha carreira. Pero antes de facelo, pedímoslles que estimaran a distancia ata a liña de meta. Pensamos que a súa condición física podería cambiar a forma na que percibían esa distancia. Que encontramos? Ben, a proporción entre cintura e cadeira predixo a percepción da distancia. A xente que non estaba en forma veu a distancia á liña de meta considerablemente maior que os que estaban en mellor forma. A súa condición física afectaba á maneira na que percibían o seu contorno. O cerebro tamén é capaz de facelo. De feito, os nosos corpos e mentes actúan conxuntamente para cambiar a forma na que vemos o mundo que nos rodea.
That led us to think that maybe people with strong motivations and strong goals to exercise might actually see the finish line as closer than people who have weaker motivations. So to test whether motivations affect our perceptual experiences in this way, we conducted a second study. Again, we gathered objective measurements of people's physical fitness, measuring the circumference of their waist and the circumference of their hips, and we had them do a few other tests of fitness. Based on feedback that we gave them, some of our participants told us they're not motivated to exercise any more. They felt like they already met their fitness goals and they weren't going to do anything else. These people were not motivated. Other people, though, based on our feedback, told us they were highly motivated to exercise. They had a strong goal to make it to the finish line. But again, before we had them walk to the finish line, we had them estimate the distance. How far away was the finish line? And again, like the previous study, we found that waist-to-hip ratio predicted perceptions of distance. Unfit individuals saw the distance as farther, saw the finish line as farther away, than people who were in better shape. Importantly, though, this only happened for people who were not motivated to exercise. On the other hand, people who were highly motivated to exercise saw the distance as short. Even the most out of shape individuals saw the finish line as just as close, if not slightly closer, than people who were in better shape.
Isto levounos a pensar que tal vez a xente moi motivada e coa seria intención de facer exercicio, podería ver a liña de meta máis achegada que as persoas menos motivadas. Para comprobar se a motivación afecta á nosa percepción desta maneira, realizamos un segundo estudo. Unha vez máis, recollimos datos obxectivos acerca da condición física das persoas, medindo a circunferencia da cintura e da cadeira, e realizámoslles outras probas físicas. Baseándose na información que lles demos algúns participantes dixéronnos que non estaban motivados para facer máis exercicio. Sentían que xa alcanzaran os seus obxectivos e non tiñan intención de facer máis. Non estaban motivados. Porén, outros, polos nosos comentarios, dixeron que estaban máis motivados para exercitarse. Tiñan un grande interese en chegar á meta. Pero, unha vez máis, antes de poñerse a camiñar pedímoslles que estimaran a distancia. A canto estaba a liña de meta? E, de novo, coma no estudo previo, encontramos que a relación cintura-cadeira predixo a percepción da distancia. A xente en baixa forma observou unha distancia maior e sentiu que a meta estaba máis lonxe que as persoas en mellor forma. O importante e que isto só lles ocorría a persoas que non estaban motivadas para facer exercicio. Fronte a estes, os que estaban moi motivados para adestrar vían a distancia máis curta. Incluso os participantes en peor forma viron a liña de meta tan cerca ou incluso máis cerca que os que estaban en mellor forma.
So our bodies can change how far away that finish line looks, but people who had committed to a manageable goal that they could accomplish in the near future and who believed that they were capable of meeting that goal actually saw the exercise as easier. That led us to wonder, is there a strategy that we could use and teach people that would help change their perceptions of the distance, help them make exercise look easier?
Así que o noso corpo pode cambiar a distancia aparente ata a liña de meta, pero a xente comprometida cunha meta alcanzable, á que se pode ater nun futuro próximo, e que cre que é capaz de logralo, en realidade ve a proba máis fácil. Isto fixo que nos preguntáramos se haberá algunha estratexia que poidamos utilizar, e que lle ensine á xente, que axudara a cambiar as súas percepcións da distancia, e que lles fixera ver que facer exercicio pode ser máis fácil?
So we turned to the vision science literature to figure out what should we do, and based on what we read, we came up with a strategy that we called, "Keep your eyes on the prize." So this is not the slogan from an inspirational poster. It's an actual directive for how to look around your environment. People that we trained in this strategy, we told them to focus their attention on the finish line, to avoid looking around, to imagine a spotlight was shining on that goal, and that everything around it was blurry and perhaps difficult to see. We thought that this strategy would help make the exercise look easier. We compared this group to a baseline group. To this group we said, just look around the environment as you naturally would. You will notice the finish line, but you might also notice the garbage can off to the right, or the people and the lamp post off to the left. We thought that people who used this strategy would see the distance as farther.
Así que buscamos na literatura especializada para determinar o que debíamos facer, e a partir do que limos, desenvolvemos unha estratexia que chamamos "Mantén os ollos na meta". Este non é un slogan dalgún cartel motivacional. É realmente unha directriz para saber como ver o contorno. Ás persoas que adestraban con esta estratexia dixémoslles que puxeran a súa atención na liña de meta, que evitaran mirar ao redor, que se imaxinaran un punto brillando na meta e que deixaran todo ao seu redor borroso e difícil de ver. Criamos que esta estratexia axudaría a que o exercicio parecese máis fácil. Comparouse este grupo cun grupo de control. Dixémoslle a este último grupo que seguise observando o seu contorno como xa facía. Que viran a liña de meta, pero que tamén observaran o caldeiro do lixo da dereita ou a xente e o farol da esquerda. Pensabamos que a xente que ía utilizar esta estratexia percibiría a súa meta a unha maior distancia.
So what did we find? When we had them estimate the distance, was this strategy successful for changing their perceptual experience? Yes. People who kept their eyes on the prize saw the finish line as 30 percent closer than people who looked around as they naturally would. We thought this was great. We were really excited because it meant that this strategy helped make the exercise look easier, but the big question was, could this help make exercise actually better? Could it improve the quality of exercise as well?
Que encontramos? Cando lles pedimos que estimaran a distancia, tivo éxito a estratexia que lles axudaba a cambiar a percepción do contorno? Si. As persoas que mantiveron os ollos fixos na meta viron a liña de meta un 30% máis cerca que a xente que á vez observaba o seu contorno como de costume. Pensamos que era fantástico. Estábamos moi contentos porque iso significaba que esta estratexia axudaba a que facer exercicio parecese máis fácil. Pero a gran pregunta era: podería isto axudar a mellorar o adestramento? Podería tamén mellorar a calidade do adestramento?
So next, we told our participants, you are going to walk to the finish line while wearing extra weight. We added weights to their ankles that amounted to 15 percent of their body weight. We told them to lift their knees up high and walk to the finish line quickly. We designed this exercise in particular to be moderately challenging but not impossible, like most exercises that actually improve our fitness.
A continuación, dixémoslles aos nosos participantes que ían ir á liña de meta levando unha carga adicional. Puxémoslles pesos nos nocellos equivalentes ao 15% do seu peso corporal. Dixémoslles que levantaran os xeonllos e que camiñaran máis rápido á liña de meta. Deseñamos este exercicio en particular para que fora moderadamente difícil pero non imposible, como a maioría de exercicios que realmente melloran a condición física.
So the big question, then: Did keeping your eyes on the prize and narrowly focusing on the finish line change their experience of the exercise? It did. People who kept their eyes on the prize told us afterward that it required 17 percent less exertion for them to do this exercise than people who looked around naturally. It changed their subjective experience of the exercise. It also changed the objective nature of their exercise. People who kept their eyes on the prize actually moved 23 percent faster than people who looked around naturally. To put that in perspective, a 23 percent increase is like trading in your 1980 Chevy Citation for a 1980 Chevrolet Corvette.
A gran pregunta era: manter os ollos na meta, ben enfocados na liña de meta, cambiou a súa experiencia ao facer exercicio? Así foi. Os que centraron os seus ollos na meta indicaron máis tarde que tiveron que facer un 17% menos de esforzo para realizar os mesmos exercicios que a xente que observaba o seu contorno con naturalidade. Isto modificou a súa experiencia subxectiva do exercicio. Tamén cambiou o carácter obxectivo do exercicio. Os que mantiveron os seus ollos na meta movéronse un 23% máis rápido que os demais. Para que se fagan unha idea, un aumento do 23% e como intercambiar o seu Chevy Citation de 1980 por un Chevrolet Corvette de 1980.
We were so excited by this, because this meant that a strategy that costs nothing, that is easy for people to use, regardless of whether they're in shape or struggling to get there, had a big effect. Keeping your eyes on the prize made the exercise look and feel easier even when people were working harder because they were moving faster. Now, I know there's more to good health than walking a little bit faster, but keeping your eyes on the prize might be one additional strategy that you can use to help promote a healthy lifestyle.
Estabamos moi contentos porque significaba que unha estratexia que non custa nada e que é fácil de utilizar, tanto para os que están en forma como para os que lles costa chegar, tiña un grande impacto. Manter os ollos na meta facía que o exercicio parecera e fora máis fácil, incluso aínda cando a xente se esforzaba máis, ao ir máis rápido. Xa sei que a boa saúde é algo máis que simplemente ir un pouco máis de présa, pero manter os ollos na meta pode ser unha estratexia adicional, útil para promover un estilo de vida saudable.
If you're not convinced yet that we all see the world through our own mind's eye, let me leave you with one final example. Here's a photograph of a beautiful street in Stockholm, with two cars. The car in the back looks much larger than the car in the front. However, in reality, these cars are the same size, but that's not how we see it. So does this mean that our eyes have gone haywire and that our brains are a mess? No, it doesn't mean that at all. It's just how our eyes work. We might see the world in a different way, and sometimes that might not line up with reality, but it doesn't mean that one of us is right and one of us is wrong. We all see the world through our mind's eye, but we can teach ourselves to see it differently.
Se aínda non están convencidos de que todos vemos o mundo desde o noso punto de vista, déixenme darlles un último exemplo. Esta é unha foto dunha fermosa rúa de Estocolmo na que se ven dous coches. O coche de atrás parece máis grande que o coche de diante. Porén, en realidade, estes coches son do mesmo tamaño, pero esa non é a forma na que os vemos. Significa iso que o noso ollo non funciona ben e que o noso cerebro é un desastre? Non, en absoluto. É só como funcionan os nosos ollos. Podemos ver o mundo de maneira diferente, e ás veces non coincide coa realidade, pero iso non quere dicir que un de nós teña a razón e o outro non. Todos vemos o mundo desde o noso punto de vista pero podemos aprender a velo dunha maneira diferente.
So I can think of days that have gone horribly wrong for me. I'm fed up, I'm grumpy, I'm tired, and I'm so behind, and there's a big black cloud hanging over my head, and on days like these, it looks like everyone around me is down in the dumps too. My colleague at work looks annoyed when I ask for an extension on a deadline, and my friend looks frustrated when I show up late for lunch because a meeting ran long, and at the end of the day, my husband looks disappointed because I'd rather go to bed than go to the movies. And on days like these, when everybody looks upset and angry to me, I try to remind myself that there are other ways of seeing them. Perhaps my colleague was confused, perhaps my friend was concerned, and perhaps my husband was feeling empathy instead. So we all see the world through our own mind's eye, and on some days, it might look like the world is a dangerous and challenging and insurmountable place, but it doesn't have to look that way all the time. We can teach ourselves to see it differently, and when we find a way to make the world look nicer and easier, it might actually become so.
Podo pensar en días nos que todo me saíu mal. Estou farta, irritable, cansada, vou atrasada no traballo, e hai unha gran nube negra por riba da miña cabeza; e neses días, paréceme que todos ao meu redor tamén están deprimidos. O meu compañeiro de traballo parece irritado cando lle pido unha prórroga da data límite, e o meu amigo parece frustrado cando chego tarde ao xantar porque unha reunión se prolongou, e cara ao final do día o meu home está decepcionado, porque eu prefiro ir durmir que ao cine. E en días coma estes, cando todo o mundo parece molesto e enfadado comigo, trato de recordar que hai outra maneira de velo. Quizais o meu compañeiro estaba confundido, talvez, o meu amigo estaba preocupado, e talvez o meu home estaba sendo comprensivo. Todos vemos o mundo desde o noso punto de vista, e algúns días, o mundo pode parecer un lugar perigoso, difícil e insuperable, pero non ten por que parecer así todo o tempo. Podemos aprender a velo dunha maneira diferente, e cando encontremos unha maneira de facer que o mundo se vexa máis agradable e todo pareza máis fácil, tal vez, entón, se converta niso.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)