Why"double blind"tests don't work:brain?

i'm skeptical of the left brain-right brain explanation for abx failure. eruliaf xba rof noitanalpxe niarb thgir-niarb tfel eht fo lacitpeks m'i.

The stress theory combined with the "it's not my system so I don't really know it" reality is a dangerous combination. Add the nuances that come with simply shifting cables, as reported in earlier threads, and it's not surprising that the double blind tests don't consistently reveal anything. Image and advertising aside, I wonder how many of the Coke drinkers who picked Pepsi in a blind taste test really switched drinks afterward? The two really are different. Under stress and in a strange environment, it's not easy to pick the one you love (at least not with regards to what we're talking about here). Cheers.

Cornfed, great post!!! I would give you +2/+2, but I don't vote.

I have always thought that the difficulty people, including myself, have with this has to do with expectations and perceptual sets.

I think, similar to Elizabeth's comments, that when we are expecting to hear a difference and are trying to be analytical our brain tries to force the information from our senses into our existing experience/thought structures and we end up denying our senses because of our tendency to force experiental information into existing perceptual sets. This is the same reason that camoflage(sp?) does not necessarily have to mimic the visual background it resides in to be effective. It just has to break up the image of an object and our brain will integrate the object into existing perceptual sets.

From my intro to psych class back at the cow college I seem to remember that this concept underlies the use of Rorsach(sp?)or inkblot tests. They attempt to make you divulge your perceptual sets in response to a picture.

On the other hand when we are just listening/viewing without a goal in mind, our perceptual sets are not as active. For instance, we would see the pictures in the inkblot test as inkblots and not pictures. In this mode we hear/see what is really there instead of trying to force predetermined structure on our senses.

While I agree that we listen differently based on our objectives in listening I do not think it is a "hardware" problem having to do with the structure or operation of the brain. I think its a "software" problem that prevents us from being accurate and objective

I would really like to hear from anyone with some training in this area.

Ignatz, I'm interested in what you have to say, but am not quite sure what you mean by software vs. hardware. I didn't quite get the connection with what you had just been saying. Please explain.

One comment, when we are listening/viewing without a goal in mind, our pereceptual sets are still quite active, perhaps even more so, although not in the same way. Anyway, it's all based on very limited empirical knowledge with much variation between individuals...

BTW, right on about the Rorschach. I administer this all the time. It's one of a class of assessment instruments called projectives, because, as you say, there's nothing really on the card but a bunch of ink, and what people report seeing is thought to represent their psychological themes, which they "project" onto the image. However, these themes may be verbal, emotional, kinesthetic, whatever. Even looking at the pictures without a goal, images are projected onto the blot, just as our cognitive, emotional, and other biases color the physical stimulus when we listen to music, regardless of what frame of mind we are in. When a person reports just seeing blots of ink, the traditional interpretation is that they are not being forthcoming and/or are 'defending' against their psychological processes, either consciously or unconsciously. I've tried it myseslf - you really have to try hard to stop from seeing things in the blots. It's not that they're really there, it's just that we're hard-wired pattern-detectors. All right, I'm blathering, sorry. Anyway, I can't emphasize enough (so I won't really try) that there's not enough solid data to back up music-related brain-behavior phenomena hypotheses in any real firm way. However, I'll run this whole thing by my neuropsych supervisor and the hospital neurologist and see what they have to say!