Academically talented teens and their parents learned Sunday at the University of California, Davis, how easy it is to fool the human brain and what that reveals about how the brain works.

"You think your brain is giving you a real picture of the world, but it's not," said Barbara Chapman, event organizer and professor of neurobiology at UC Davis. "Seeing how to fool the brain shows how it's working."

The program, involving dozens of seventh- to 10th-graders from across the state, was part of a series of family programs put on by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth.

In campus laboratories, graduate students of neuroscience walked the teens and preteens through experiments meant to trick their brains and show the pitfalls of perception.

In one, participants donned goggles that skewed their vision to the side. Then they had to toss poker chips into grocery sacks on the floor straight in front of them.

The odd effect, said grad student Zac Davis, was that even though you were throwing straight, you felt as if you were throwing to the side.

"The goggles feed incorrect visual information into the system," Davis said. "It feels like I'm throwing way across my body."

Take off the goggles and the effect remained. Throwing straight felt like throwing to the right. The brain had readjusted to the distorted reality.

"This is a consequence of the realignment of the cerebellum," Davis explained. "Rather than change my sense of vision, I change my sense of my arm."

Dasha Ignatenko and Madison Lambert, both 14 and from Castro Valley, laughed after they tried it for themselves.

Ignatenko called it an interesting glimpse at "what goes on beyond the scenes of what you expect."

In another lab, students and parents performed experiments that demonstrated the difference between peripheral and central vision. They sensed movement to the side but could see only shape and color when objects were in front of them.

In another classroom they were treated to a show of optical illusions: stationary dots that appeared to move. Objects seemed larger or smaller based on depth perception.

"The brain seeks patterns and associates meaning," said grad student Doug Totten.

The day continued with a demonstration of how an EEG – an electroencephalogram – measures the brain's electrical activity.

Quinn Sheridan, 13, from Sonoma had electrodes attached to his head while classmates watched his readings scroll across a laptop screen.

"It felt weird, like my head was pulsing," Sheridan said, as he tried to wipe leftover conductive gel from his hair.

In the middle of the afternoon, the teens broke into smaller groups and dissected sheep's brains.

Jared Skillem, 12, of Colfax wielded a small plastic knife as the scent of formaldehyde filled the air.

"I'm the only one who had the stomach to do this," he said, as a half dozen other students watched.

What did he learn?

"There are many parts of the brain," he said, "and sheep have a better sense of smell than we do."

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