The Notions of Perception

Hey there,

So I am reading a book right now called "This Is Your Brain on Music" and it is quite interesting. I've always found the science of pyschoacoustics to be very interesting and I have always wanted to learn more about it. The idea that everything we hear is a product of how our brains percieve it is just really cool. You know the old addage "If a tree falls in the forest and nothing is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Well before I went to school in Toronto, I was always saying yes. But that is not the case. Sure, if a tree falls in the forest, the physical properties of sound are still there; the air molecules are still vibrating at a certain rate, but here's the catch: the tree does not make a sound. Why? Because in order for 'sound' to exist as we understand it, something has to be there in it's presence to interpret what is happening to the air molecules on a physical level. Without anything there to interpret the physical disturbance then that is all it is, a disturbance in the air, a miniscule breeze, a tiny change in air pressure. I understood that before I started reading the book but the thing that made me really stop today and think is that this is the case for practically everything we expereince. Take colour for example. If there is nothing in a room to percieve colour, is the room still coloured? The answer here as well is no. Particles do not have an inherent colour, they're just particles. For something to have a colour attributed to it, there must be a set of eyeballs and a brain to interpret the waveforms that are being reflected off the surface. Indeed, the waveform itself isn't even coloured, we only attribute colour to it because that is how our minds interpret it. What really blows my mind is that to some other creature, violet could be the low end of the spectrum and red the high end. Same goes for taste, the smoked salmon in the fridge does not have a taste until we put it in our mouths and our brain interprets the signals the tongue recieves as 'salmon'. The same can be said of smell, and possibly even touch. Is something rough because it's inherently rough or is that just the way we interpret it? The Science of Perception really intrigues me. I'm of course more interested in the sound aspect of perception, but all aspects are equally as cool.
Anyways, hope you enjoy and I hope you start listening, seeing, and tasting with a new interest.
YFTCF
Gregory @(*o*)@