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From: p515dfi@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Daniel Fischer)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Neurophysiological mystery event last nite
Keywords: Ear, sensitivity level, concentration
Message-ID: <2103@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de>
Date: 3 Jun 91 12:12:27 GMT
Reply-To: p515dfi@mpirbn.UUCP (Daniel Fischer)
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn
Lines: 12

Can someone here explain the following strange experience I had last night?
Somewhere in the room there was an clock ticking very faintly (in daytime
I hadn't even realized it was there), and when the ticking caught my atten=
tion, I mentally concentrated on it. Guess what happened: the sound faded and
was gone, to come back only after I stopped concentrating on it.

Now, would this have happend in the area of *vision* I could come up with
many explanations for a details being stared at going away (e.g. chemical
effects on the retina or well-known optical illusions) - but WHAT MECHANISM
makes a faint sound go away when you try to hear it better???

Awaiting your ideas: Daniel Fischer, p515dfi@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de