[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: (meteorobs) Fireballs & sonic booms
Lew,
The psychological phemomenon we are dealing with here, if any of these
sounds are indeed psychological, is called synaesthesia. This is where
stimulation of one sensory modality (e.g. vision) results in the conscious
experience associated with another modality (e.g. hearing). This can
result from drug use (refer to the poetry by Coleridge), or from
neurological damage. Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm totally
convinced that this phenomenon can also occur to normal folks under
unusual EXTERNAL circumstances e.g. an unexpected fireball or meteor.
Yes, they are all unexpected, but meteor observers do generally expect
(hope) to see some!
A psychological phenomena involved with fireballs appearing close to the
observer is size constancy as Lew states. However other psychological
phenomena are also involved here, like apparent vs. absolute velocity and
apparent vs. absolute intensity. Put in others terms, it is MORE
REASONABLE for a naive eye-witness to assume (sub-consciously) that a
fireball is nearby, not too bright and travelling at a reasonable speed,
than being hundreds of kilometers distant, intensely bright and travelling
at, say, 30 km/sec! Most people have no experience of such things except
fireworks, which would compound the misperception. I wrote an article on
this several years ago in Sky and Space. The theory can also explain why
some observers (mistakenly) report fireballs or aurorae being seen lower
than surrounding hills.
Misperceptions such as these can be considered as incorrect hypotheses.
It is not unreasonable to treat perception as having the same function as
science. Both try to represent the external world in as accurate a way as
possible to the observer/community. This is getting a bit off topic, but
I find it interesting that the "fringe" areas of meteor observing can have
a bearing on the philosophy of mind and science.
Cheers, Ron
Robert H. McNaught
rmn@aaocbn.aaodot gov.au
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html
References: