PETERSON
about what, exactly, is going on up there, it is a good, old-fashioned visual illusion.
Static swirls that look like writhing snakes. Squares that you’d swear are really rectangles. A bunny that is also a duck. Or maybe a duck that is also a bunny. These and other perspective-twisters come courtesy of your brain’s visual cortex, which interprets and responds to information sent from the eyes in dizzying and confounding ways.
Is it possible that the image of a young woman is also the image of an old crone? That’s what the sign said, but it’s not what my inferotemporal cortex (the part of the brain that helps us recognize objects and faces) was telling me. I would see the crone for just a flash, and then, poof! I lost her. Davis suggested I take a step back, and then it all came into focus.
“With puzzles, you are keeping your brain sharp. You have to reactivate that memory,” Davis said. “Sometimes, it’s just about changing your perspective.”
Brains, glorious brains
Speaking of stepping back, don’t even think about bypassing the cases at the entrance to the “Brain: The World Inside Your Head” exhibit, because that is where the brains live.
First up, a real human brain, a three-pound, vaguely bean-shaped thing does not look at all capable of remembering most of your computer passwords and the complete lyrics to “Tangled Up in Blue,” but somehow does. Next up, real brains from a dogfish shark, a mallard duck, a beagle, a baboon, and finally, a bottlenose dolphin, which is larger than a human brain (at 3¾ pounds) and looks like a mutant caulif lower. The dolphin brain is also the second most complex and powerful animal brain, right behind humans. No wonder they look like they’re smiling.
From there, this traveling exhibit from Evergreen Exhibitions helps explain what these weird-looking organs do. The “Lightning Storm” display introduces you to your brain’s 100 billion neurons and to the electrical signals and chemical connections that are responsible for every move we make, every meal we taste and every weird and wonderful thing we feel. The creepily fascinating “A Hole the Head” display tells the story of Phineas Gage, a man whose behavioral changes after a freak brain injury (he was pierced in the head by a railroad spike) led to a better understanding of the ways your brain determines not just how you think, but how you feel and how you act on those feelings.
Mind games for everyone!
The last stop on our tour is the accurately named Mindbender Mansion. This traveling exhibit from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry features a collection of hands-on games and puzzles that will put your miraculous neuronfiring, information-interpreting three-pound bean to the test.
Best group activities? That would be “Feeding Frenzy” or “Spelling Fever.” The former challenges participants to put plastic food on plates as they move progressively faster down a speedy conveyor belt. (Stock up on peas is Davis’ advice.) The latter will have the most flexible members of your party spelling out words by jumping from one light-up letter to another before the timer runs out. Don’t be afraid to give it a shot. Your Fitbit will thank you.
Knowing my limitations, I skipped all of the puzzles involving numbers and went directly to “Color Match,” in which I somehow managed to make all of the hexagonal color wheels match up just as the instructions ordered. The adrenaline rush was magical. It was also shortlived. From there, I went on to “Six Blocks in a Box,” which involved fitting six wooden blocks into one wooden box. How hard could it be?
It was hard. Impossible, as a matter of fact. After 15 sweaty minutes, I relinquished my chair to a younger, smarter visitor, who aced it in no time. But with Davis’ final words ringing in our ears, my brain and I left with our shared head held high.
“We want you to use your brain,” Davis said. “But honestly, this exhibit is just a lot of fun.”
karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com