Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 02:58:05 -0500
From: Ted White <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Data processing by the human brain (was: modems)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

ronkean at juno.com wrote:

[...]
>
>  So, here's the question.  If people can accept information input only
>  up to a rate of about 100 bps, reading text, why is it that people
>  can easily 'take in' a movie, which requires a streaming data rate of
>  perhaps tens of millions of bits per second, for a wide screen movie
>  theater presentation?

Several answers:

1.  Different kinds of data.  Movies combine visual and auditory data,
and much of the audio may not be words.

2.  Selective processing of data.  Who looks at the *entire* screen?
It's there, as it has to be, to create the Complete Picture for anyone
looking around, but your average moviegoer is following only the central
action on the screen -- a subset of the total data available.

3.  Different means of processing data.  People take in things in the
periphery of their vision that they may not recall in any detail, but
which guide their understanding of what they're seeing.  This translates
into subliminal information, or data which bypasses the intellect and is
not consciously considered, but which guides one's understanding through
"hunch"s or "instinct."  That leads to...

4.  Active vs. passive processing of data.  When people read or listen
to words, they actively consider those words and react to their
perception of them, and the content they convey.  But when they watch a
movie, especially if it isn't heavy with talking, they are "in the
moment" and just *experiencing* rather than thinking about that movie.
This is why people accept absurd plot developments in movies; continuity
isn't important to them.  (And that accounts for skiffy movies.)

--Ted White