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Even though you conciously only take in a certain amount of perceptual stimuli (eg the person you are talking to in a crowded room) you do take in a hell of a lot more subconciously. If your at a party talking to someone and another person across the room says your name you whip your head around to look at them. This is called the 'cocktail effect'. You managed to pick out a single word out of an entire room of cross conversations. Amazing in my opinion.
Idiot savants have been shown to have problems with the filtering of information in their brain. If your not sure what an idiot savant is think of Dustin Hofman in 'Rainman'. The person his character is based off is a famous idiot savant. That is why they have trouble interacting socially with people but are really smart in a certain area. They see alot more but they get confused in their brain and thus have trouble interpreting everything.
Another interesting thing is that the human brain needs perceptual stimulaion. They have done experiments where they put people in sensory deprivation devices (cant see or hear). It didnt take long for them all to start having halucinations. The brain needs to have its perceptual abilities stimulated to survive so it self stimulates them in the absence of external perception
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