As I said once before (October 13), perception, like memory, is all about information coded in the brain, and in another demonstration of the marvellous way our brain interprets the world for us, new research reveals that the brain can use information received after an event to decide how to perceive it (of course, we're talking very soon after - within 130ms).
Another study reported at the same conference reveals that two quite distinct visual pathways in the brain enable you to see an object and reach out to pick it up. In one interesting case, a patient who had suffered accidental exposure to carbon monoxide, was left with the ability to accurately judge the distance of an object and grasp it appropriately, while being unable to identify the object. Imaging studies have since discovered different brain regions areresponsible for perception-vision and for motion-vision.
The most amusing study of the conference however ( amusing if you remember the old adage about someone being unable to walk and talk at the same time), is the suggestion that talking while walking puts contrasting demands on the spinal cord and requires neural coordination, and may exacerbate back problems. The study found that people unconsciously time their breathing to avoid inhaling as each foot strikes the ground, and when people were made to describe a visual scene while walking, their ability to coordinate their foot strikes and inhalations decreased.
(these conference papers were reported in BioMedNet, free registration required)