WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

A column dedicated to your riding survival

What you see is what you get I said what you see is what you get, now baby And the real thing is the best thing yet, the best thing yet The Dramatics

Perception is the organization, identi cation, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system. This month will ll in a few of the Senses articles that we have been running this Spring. When we whip all the six senses together in the gray matter bowl that is our brain we come up with awareness from these observations and this leads to your assessment of what your senses are feeding you – and it happens in a millisecond... thousands of times every day. But you and I can be at the same place at the same time seeing and experiencing the very exact same thing but how we perceive it will most likely not be exactly the same. Maybe very close if we have the same paradigm on the world and perhaps similar backgrounds and upbringing, but it will still not be exactly the same. In many cases, two rider’s perceptions of the same thing will be completely different. Visual perception can be affected by other things. Your mental state and outlook and even the time of day and the light that comes with it.

Look at these two images. They are the same, but are they? To me one shows a chilly and cold New Jersey afternoon, the other gives me that warm Key West vibe. This digital manipulation was done on purpose just to evoke your perception of these images. I sometimes wonder if we do not even see things and situations in exactly the same way in a different manner. It would be funny to learn that what is red to me is blue to you – but I am sure there is a scientist or a persnickety reader that will edumacate on this. Look at the logo for the Bronx Zoo… what do you see? Did you pick up the New York skyline? Some do, some don’t. Other things and colors can affect your insight as well. If you’ve ever seen an all gray/black police car with black lettering, that’s a specially-marked police vehicle with what is known as “Ghost Graphics.” It can be hard to tell if it’s actually a police vehicle, especially in the dark. The lettering is re ective but is a dark enough color that at rst glance, it might just look like a normal SUV. The Ghost cars are there to blend in with the road – but I like that the municipality name and logo are in a retro-re ective wrap. A good thing as law enforcement has a hard enough time these days to have to worry about NOT being seen at times - especially along the side of the road when they are in the middle of a traf c stop or investigation. But here is where perception comes in and plays with your mind. My question is… if you come around a turn, at speed, and see a squad car

sitting there; do you have a different reaction to the standard white police car or the darker “Ghost” police car? Let’s keep this bit of perception going… The lights come on behind you and in the mirrors you see red, or maybe blue. Does one color get the adrenaline going a bit more than the other? Does the input you are getting from the color of the lights you see in the mirror of LEO’s car, barely hidden, while throttling out of that fast turn affect you differently? That is a question for you. But I am curious about your thoughts so feel free to email me with your thoughts on this: brian@backroadsusa.com As I said… everybody’s perception is different. ~ Brian Rathjen