Thursday, February 10, 2005

You only see what your eyes want to see

I woke up today morning. I am usually late. I did not have the digital clock at my bedside. My roommate was using it as he wanted to get up early.

I reached for my analog wristwatch on the table and saw the time. 10:30. Shit...!!! I scrambled up and rushed to the bathroom. In 15 mins, I was out and preparing breakfast. As the coffee was getting heated in the microwave oven, I glanced at the kitchen clock. What...!! 8:20 AM..!! Now what's wrong with the clock...!! I picked up my watch to set the correct time in the kitchen clock. I froze.

The time in my watch was 8:20 as well...

This is what must have happened. I had misread the time when I got up. I was up at 8:00 AM. I saw the watch upside down and thought it was 10:30 AM. But, even then, the time would be would have been only 2:30?!!! What is happening to me..?? Actually, this is not the first time such a thing has happened. I have done this "misinterpretation of time" before by looking at the watch upside down.

There can be only two plausible explanations to this...

a. You only see what you want to see. You usually have a guess in your mind about what the time is. When you glance at the watch, you are expecting to see something close to your guess. Nobody reads the numbers on an analog watch. The needles' position would suffice. So it is possible that the brain gets confused and reads a time that isn't.

b. I am the first victim of the MVS (Mirrored Vision Syndrome)

2 comments:

Harish said...

Another explanation? My longstanding hypothesis of "you're dyslexic" is actually true! :D
Remember "right", "left".... no "this way" "that way"?

Anonymous said...

It is the Gestalt or Premack or Ziegarnik principle in action