DI View the T.E.D./Mindvalley Talk Title of T.E.D.

./ Mindvalley Talk (+link): Name of Speaker: Date of Talk and Number of Views:
RE (>10min) and complete the
CT following grid. If you run out of OPTICAL ILLISIONS SHOW HOW WE SEE July 2009
IO space on the grid for any of your BEAU LOTTO 7,513,510 views
answers, feel free to continue
NS
writing/typing on the back of this
sheet.
What was the speaker’s thesis (main point) of this speech? Describe two things this speaker does well in terms of engaging the audience. Be sure to
include the minute: second mark (ex: 8:49) to denote the two specific moments you discuss
“Beau Lotto seeks to pull aside the curtain of why we see what we here.
do in order to create the possibility and agency in deciding what
to perceive next.” 1. The interaction with the audience and practical presentations. It is obvious, that in
this talk the speaker most of all relies on the practical demonstration and again it is very
What group of people would benefit the most from hearing this obvious that in such a way he engages the audience perfectly.
lecture? [Ex. 0:04 – 1:17; 1:50 – 2:12; 4:20 – 4:45; 5:45 – 6:19; 12:13 – 12:45 etc.]
To my mind, everyone would benefit from this talk. It is
something every person would like to discover. Though you need 2. In some cases the presenter uses humor, but it is not the main thing that help to
to have great understanding of what the speaker talks. It would not maintain the viewers’ attention, but it helps and brings the audience closer to the speaker in
suit very young viewers, though it would probably be very terms of pathos.
interesting for them, but in simpler manner of presentation the [Ex. 15:29; 10:42; 2:05]
material.
If you could ask this speaker a question Write two specific things you learned from this presentation. Give one piece of constructive criticism that would
about his/her information or presentation, 1. The brain evolved the mechanisms for finding improve the presentation.
what would you ask?
Sometimes it was rather difficult to catch up with
patterns, finding relationships in information. So, basically our
As the speaker said that he is working the pace in what the presenter is speaking, but I
brain isn’t born with the ability to see the optical illusions, but
with these illusions with kids as well, I it can learn to see them. don’t know whether I can criticize this point,
would like to know how they react to because he obviously had a time limit. All in all,
the illusions. 2. Not only humans can see and distinguish illusions, even a it was quite an interesting experience.
bumblebee can do it.

Ethos is a speaker’s ability to build credibility, establish himself/herself as an expert, and/or convince the audience members that the speaker has their best interests at heart. How
does this speaker build ethos? Feel free to also refer to the speaker’s profile information from the ted.com webpage (or other resources) as you build your answer.

Beau Lotto is a Professor of Neuroscience and author. He is a professor at University of London, as well as a visiting scholar at New York University. His
research explores how the brain adapts to uncertainty at the cellular, computational and perceptual levels with the aim of understanding the fundamental
principles of biologically-inspired innovation. It is quite obvious that he perfectly suits for this mission – “to pull aside the curtain of why we see what we do in
order to create the possibility and agency in deciding what to perceive next.”
He establishes himself as an expert right away because he simply starts to prove his position on practical things: “But first, we have to ask another question, which is,
 "What is color for?" And instead of telling you, I'll just show you.” [Ex. 0:04; 1:50]
What is more important that this practical performance impresses the audience quite well, it is very useful trick to use. Even for me, the viewer that can only watch
through the screen, it was pretty exiting to participate in this stuff.
Pathos is an appeal to emotions (everything from humor to horror) in order to sway an audience, while logos is the use of data/evidence to prove one’s case. Did this speaker rely
more on pathos or logos in his/her presentation? What argument/point in this presentation did you find the most compelling? Why?

The most powerful thing in terms of appealing to emotions of the viewers is participating in this examples of the illusions. It is plain to see that the audience is
enjoying their time, they are involver into the process. [Ex. 0:53 – 1:15]
The speaker sometimes uses jokes in this speech but they don’t pay a large role in the talk. This is quite right because all in all the presenter relies more on
logos, he is constantly referring to science and terms. “So, how do we see? Well, we see by learning to see.  The brain evolved the mechanisms for finding
patterns,  finding relationships in information,  and associating those relationships with a behavioral meaning,  a significance, by interacting with the world. We're very
aware of this  in the form of more cognitive attributes, like language.” [Ex. 4:20]
But as well the author refers to the audience with the pronoun “we” instead of more general words.

Vocabulary (write 10 words/phrases from the speech and explain their meaning)
1. illumination – lighting or light.
2. spectral content – fundamental frequency lists.
1. 3. retina – a layer at the back of the eyeball that contains cells sensitive to light, which trigger nerve impulses that pass via the optic nerve to the brain, where a
visual image is formed.
4. cognitive attributes – the core skills your brain uses to think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay attention.
5. to redefine – define again or differently.
6. consistent – acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate.
7. plasticity – the quality of being easily shaped or moulded.
8. prosthetic – denoting an artificial body part, such as a limb, a heart, or a breast implant.
9. empirical – based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.
10. reflective – providing a reflection; capable of reflecting light or other radiation.
Notes:

Speech to inform – speech about process (how our brain works), speech about concept (about illusion itself).
Type of persuasion – on question of fact.
Degree of persuasion – moderately in favor.

Analyzing the audience:

Demographic – such things as age; religion; racial, ethnic, and cultural background; gender and sexual orientation; group membership; and the like don’t metter
in this case.
Situational – in this case I would say that a lot of circumstances are important. As we know – a lot of the talk is dependent on seeing the screen and other
devices, so everyone should see it.
Disposition – as I have mentioned previously, this topic is something every person would like to discover. Though you need to have great understanding of
what the speaker talks.