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Standing on your head

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scotchollie | 13:06 Fri 13th Apr 2007 | Body & Soul
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I remember from O Level physics that the images we get while standing up are actually 'upside down' but our brain turns them so we can make sense of it.

So if you stand on you head for a really long time, will your brain eventually kick in and adjust the image from your eyes in this position and turn the image the 'right way up?'
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Interesting - I've found this, which suggests that experiments with prism glasses have shown images being re-adjusted by the brain.

http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn/archive s/archive68/newposts/760/topic760646.shtm

Octavius, I know you're a learned person from some of your other posts - can you shed any more light on this?
You are right..... when babies are born they see things upside down and the brain learns to flip the image. There was a test done where someone wore glasses that made everything upside down and it didnt take a long time for the brain to rotate the images, however when the glasses were taken everything was upside down again.

Im surprised noone else know this, especiually the might Octavius.
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And this:

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/a e353.cfm?CFID=15302381&CFTOKEN=54633802

It's true!! Your brain really can turn your vision the right way up if the image is inverted from the normal state of affairs.
So your evidence is based upon random posts from A Nomynous people from various forums on the internet?

I have no doubt that the retina is a part of the brain that serves as a transducer for the conversion of patterns of light into neuronal signals which tell us what we see. I am also aware that vision is a matter of deriving a probable interpretation for incomplete data. Light entering the eye is refracted as it passes through the cornea. It then passes through the pupil (controlled by the iris) and is further refracted by the lens. The lens inverts the light and projects an image onto the retina.

If you are upside down the visual impact is that the image you are seeing � which is the right way up for being upside down (i.e. upside down) then the inversion of light in the retina and transmitted through the optic nerve to your brain tells you that what you are seeing is the right way up (since you are correctly seeing upside down by looking upside down). I remain hesitant to agree that your retina would intermittently reverse itself to tell your brain that what you are seeing upside down is wrong and should be reversed.

As I have said in another post I have an open mind and can be converted to the truth with reliable evidence. Perhaps you could demonstrate by standing on your head for a very long time indeed and letting us know the outcome.

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