Fun with Perception

Do you ever think about your thinking? There is a term for this, metacognition. Do you ever think about your perceptions? I call this metaperception. Cognitive psychologists break down metacognition into fast and slow thinking. When you think fast, you are using instinct, stereotype (and bias), rules of thumb, past experience. Thinking fast doesn’t require much effort – you are actually hardly thinking. When you think slow, you are using logic, analysis, past knowledge and experience. Thinking slow takes effort – it may sometimes give you a headache, as would solving a difficult math problem! What you see, hear, and feel is also processed by your brain in the same manner – you can see, hear and feel fast without much effort and also slowly with more deliberation. My book delves into seeing, hearing, and feeling both fast and slow to create doctor-patient connection during important healthcare interactions. Keep exploring below if you are intrigued!

My interest in visual perception started at work. My job involves visual recognition of skin diseases, on someone’s body and under the microscope.

You can see, fast and slow.

My interest in auditory perception started at home. One of my children is deaf, and he was diagnosed late at almost age 2. At the time of diagnosis, he had no spoken language. Our journey involved hearing aids, then cochlear implants, then auditory verbal therapy…

You can hear, fast and slow.

My interest in emotional logic started internally. Trying to balance the different parts of my life can be crazy hard. Understanding emotions helps.

You are responsible for constructing your emotions.

You can feel, fast and slow.