"The brain is a remarkably capable chronometer for most purposes."
— Bilger, Burkhard
Author
Work Title
Date
April 25, 2011
Metaphor
"The brain is a remarkably capable chronometer for most purposes."
Metaphor in Context
The brain is a remarkably capable chronometer for most purposes. It can track seconds, minutes, days, and weeks, set off alarms in the morning, at bedtime, on birthdays and anniversaries. Timing is so essential to our survival that it may be the most finely tuned of our senses. In lab tests, people can distinguish between sounds as little as five milliseconds apart, and our involuntary timing is even quicker. If you're hiking through a jungle and a tiger growls in the underbrush, your brain will instantly home in on the sound by comparing when it reached each of your ears, and triangulating between the three points. The difference can be as little as nine-millionths of a second.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Burkhard Bilger, "The Possibilian" in The New Yorker (April 25, 2011). <Link to newyorker.com>
Date of Entry
10/10/2011
