The human brain is a complex and often misunderstood organ.
Most of us close our eyes when trying to focus on a specific sound and filter out the noise of the world. However, a recent study has shown that this is actually the wrong way around. How we focus on the sounds around us is influenced by several factors.
How do you block out the noise around you when trying to focus?
How your senses secretly team up to shape your reality
The human brain is a complex organ that science has only recently begun to figure out.
We know that our brains operate on a default multisensory setting. Think of it like the natural operating state of thinking. We have five main senses, but science has found that our brains and bodies actually have as many as 21 different sensory systems that enable us to navigate the world.
Without one sense, the others struggle to pick up the slack.
What we know as “taste” is actually mostly smell. Roughly 80% of our taste comes from our ability to smell. That’s why when you have a blocked or stuffy nose when sick, food seems to taste flat.
We have revealed a new world within us by studying our noggins
Human science has been making revolutionary discoveries about ourselves in recent years.
We now have a much better understanding of how our brains and bodies work together. One neuroscientist has found the exact effect of negative thoughts on our thinking patterns.
Our senses are dominated by the most influential of them, our ability to see.
Sight dominates our other senses, often overriding them despite the obvious right in front of us. That’s why your brain allows you to relocate a ventriloquist’s voice from the speaker to the dummy he is holding.
And science has taught us that we have a deep-rooted ability to rewire our brains at almost any age.
Our senses are a complex dance that plays out in real time, allowing us to make sense of the world around us. So how exactly have we gotten it so wrong when trying to filter out the world of noise around us to focus on a singular sound?
A study, “Closing your eyes to hear better might be a big mistake,” published by the American Institute of Physics in ScienceDaily, has provided some answers.
Focusing on a single sound does not require you to close your eyes
Science is based on the concept that when we are presented with new information that contradicts our previously established beliefs, we must change.
For most of us, when trying to focus on a specific sound, we close our eyes in an attempt to filter out the noisy world around us. People chatting, cars passing by, and even a baby crying can seemingly distract us from that one sound we are trying to focus on.
But the aforementioned study has shown that this is actually incorrect.
Changing how you focus requires all of your senses
Researchers from the American Institute of Physics have conducted an extensive study that proves sensory teamwork, that is, our senses working together in harmony, actually improves our ability to focus on one specific sound.
Our brains produce delicate electrical signals that work in tandem with our sensory network.
When we close our eyes, our brains enter what is known as neural criticality: working extremely hard to filter information, potentially suppressing the actual noise we are trying to focus on.
What exactly takes place when we close our eyes, be it sleeping or simply trying to focus, is affected by all our senses.
Are you one of the many who close your eyes when trying to focus on a specific sound? If so, we suggest you try to do the same with your eyes open.