quickfur posted a very interesting thought in another thread
http://hddb.teamikaria.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1911quickfur wrote:So even while facing the same direction in 4D (
and keeping your head pointing up and feet on the floor), you still have 4 distinct orientations you can be in. Or, put another way, you can spin your body around in 4D while standing on the same spot, and facing the same direction, without changing the latter.
So if I understand this correctly, one can see each of the
four orientations of a 3D viewpoint within 4D space, while remaining in the same up/down position, as one does here on Earth because of the "down" direction of gravity.
This is exactly how the VRI is perceived here on Earth!
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So many people are confirming that they experience VRIs, and the "four different" viewpoints that are available of the world with them.
Here's where many are leaving comments about this, on the RadioLab "You Are Here" Episode page:
http://www.radiolab.org/2011/jan/25/you-are-here/Here are a few... (I highlighted several parts of interest to this thread)
Andrew:
"I tried thousands of times to explain this to my parents and friends when I was a kid but no one else could understand. I eventually trained myself to control it by visualizing how the world would look if I turned it 90 degrees, and lately it doesn't happen to me unless I "turn it on." This is so incredible."
roy:
"I have a very similar problem and have a better way to explain this shift, 90deg or 180. I would like to draw this but will pen it instead. Suppose I was driving to my home horizontally on this board, from the left side to the right (ie heading east), and my home was on the next right turn, facing east, assuming north is up.
I would normally take a right turn and enter my gate, heading in the westerly direction. Lets suppose this is how my brain had oriented my home position.
Now, lets suppose, I was being driven by someone and I dozed off while heading east , prior to taking the right turn. When the car stopped, all i remember is we went straight, as I was not conscious to the right turn. Now when the car stops in front of my home, my house happens to be facing south as I made no turns. Now everything has shifted by 90 degrees. Similarly , if there were 2 right turns, which i was not conscious off, the shift would be 180 degrees.
In this situation, I have to stop and close my eyes and re-orient my self to the 90deg shift and soon, all falls back into place. If you agree and see what I am getting at and if you experience a similar shift, please let me know.
I can also tell you how I deal with this problem and I am now so good at directions. However, I do get disoriented when malls or other places are not sharp 90 degree bends but tend to branch off at an angel."
badenver:
"Wow - this happened to me only once and at age 18. It was terrifying because it happened with my eyes wide open. Walking down the street with 2 friends right outside my house, I suddenly felt lost and disoreiented although I had a clear sense of where I was, somewhere in my neighbourhood and that I was walking. It was just that the scenery had completely shifted...it was a 180 degree turn, where by I knew I was still walking in the same direction I had been before the shift but the path before me felt like it had moved behind me. But not only that, everything felt inverted too. I was completely turned around and terrified. I actually stopped and tried to explain all this to my 2 friends who were just bewildered. I tried to reason out my bearings trying to pinpoint actual landmarks and where they should be, but where they were now... In addition, I had lost all sense of distance and depth, and as I stood on that path trying to understand what had happened, trying to gauge the distance from me to my house and even which way exactly I should be heading, was it forward or backword?....and still unable to feel certain, I was so terrified that all I could do was sit and cry right there on that path. Eventually, I gave in and allowed my friends to lead me home, I just put one foot in front of the other where ever they led me but without any sense of where I was headed, crying with every step. As soon as I reached the gate to our house, and only when I was close enough to touch the actual gate, did I finally feel a sense of place and depth and prespective. What a terrifying experience.....it was like being in the twilight zone, truly,
it was like entering a whole new dimension where everything looks the same but feels different and is in a different place.... in my case the terror was from being completely helpless to anchor the scene before me and to make sense of it all...
I just can't imagine how these folks, Sharon as a liitle child....how tough these experiences must have been, and to endure these episodes repeatedly..."
Mike Specian:
"I was listening to this podcast as I was driving. When Sharon said the world "turns 90 degrees" I almost crashed the car. For the first time in my entire life I had learned of someone who has experiences the same thing as I do!
My experience differs somewhat from Sharon's. First, I don't need to spin around to become disoriented. If I close my eyes (or not, I've gotten better at this) and visualize what the world would look like turned 90 degrees, I can open my eyes and see the difference. This is easier in places where I've spent a lot of time. In new places, I have to concentrate harder to visualize the rotation. Sometimes I actively try to avoid this, as it can lead to confusion and distraction.
The best way I've found to explain it is like this. Picture four streets oriented in a square with four identical houses facing in each of the cardinal directions. All of the surroundings are completely symmetric and identical. My understanding is that under these conditions, almost no one would be able to tell which house is facing in which direction. I can.
Here's another example. I would attend church as a kid. The building was perfect for "turning the world around" because I spent long amounts of time there, and my mind would wander a lot. I began to visualize how the church would appear different to me if I turned it 90 degrees. Eventually, I was able to visualize
all four orientations. They each represent distinct places for me. Each was a sub-location buried within the original stationary location. Once an orientation had been visualized, with a slight bit of concentration, I could flip between them. Each felt different to me and caused different emotional reactions. I would notice details in one environment that I wouldn't notice in another.
Despite this, I think that I have a pretty good sense of direction. When I would bike around my home town as a kid and the world flipped on me, I became momentarily disoriented. It was no longer clear which path was the best way home. In those circumstances I could either rotate the world back to its standard configuration or try to map out a "new path" in the other orientation.
This still affects me everyday, but I've gotten so used to it that I'm barely consciously aware of it anymore. I'll sit at my desk, type, the orientation will switch, I won't miss a beat, and I'll return to typing. Sometimes I purposefully change the orientation just to make things more interesting."
Rayna:
"I was amazed to hear about Sharon -- I've experienced something similar to her condition since I was a little girl. Many of my first memories about the house I grew up in seem as if they're experienced from a skewed or rotated angle.
As I got older, I realized that if I concentrated, I could turn the disorientation on and off. I remember lying awake at a friend's sleepover, entertaining myself my switching back and forth between points of view.
Today the disorientation is mostly gone, though I still get lost quite often (and am a terrible chess player. I wonder if Sharon is too). "
Kirsten
I am so happy to have stumbled across this! About 4 years ago when I was living abroad I often got confused in my kitchen. On a number of occasions I would go to put something in the oven only to find the oven wasn't where it should be. It has recently gotten worse and has made me panic when I'm driving to work and all of a sudden I don;t recognize the street I am on even though I have driven on it every day for years. It also happens at work when I walk through my call center on my way to a meeting and I everything all of a sudden looks different to me and I don't know how to get to where I am going.
I never realized until listening to this that it's not that I have never seen the place I am in before,
it's just that I am seeing it from an angle I have never seen. I feel....found.
Jun. 14 2012 12:49 AM
rachel from scotland
I've experienced VRIs since childhood, and have never been able to explain this to anyone without attracting confused stares. I must have been about four years old when it happened the first time and I remember it affected me strongly. One day my home and my street just spontaneously "changed direction", this was a permanent shift which has lasted to this day. I clearly remember feeling confused and upset at the time and actually tried hard to concentrate to get the "old world" to come back - but it never did. I can still visualise it when I recall memories from before a certain age. I know now that what
I was really seeing was the same view but from another angle, but at the time it felt like I had gone to a whole other world. I can voluntarily bring on VRI flips if I concentrate hard enough, but there is usually always a default view for most places I know. This is all very interesting to read.
Jun. 07 2012 10:15 AM
Juan from Florida
I tried to explain it to my sister when we were kids and she could not understand what I was talking about. I always thought it was a tremendous advantage since
I could visualize my city in 4 different ways that apparently not many other people could; I just took it as going to another place you knew memories and mood transplanted there too. One minor thing, sometimes I have to turn things araound to be able to remember events that happened in a particular view. More than just the view of the location, I think that there are deeper psychological effects worth exploring. AsI have grown older I have lost the ability to see or remember what I used to as a kid.
Oct. 12 2012 07:37 AM
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beatrice Parsons Binkley from Arvada, Colorado
I can't believe this condition was ever a problem for anyone else. Since I was in kindergarten I have had episodes when my world was "switched" but
I never, ever told anyone because I could'nt explain these happenings.
Whenever the switch occured it was often when I first woke up in the morning. I wish I would have known to close my eyes and spin atound. Instead, I would close my eyes, wait a few seconds hopeing I would be o.k. when I opened my eyes. These happenings continued from @ age 4, through my teen years, and into my adult years. As I aged, the switch happened less
often and now it rarely happens. During all those incidents, I stood still, not knowing which way to go because I was in unfamiliar territory.
I am thrilled that Sharon was brave enough to try to explain her condition so that others (including me) now know what was wrong with us.
Oct. 12 2012 04:10 PM
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ankush from india
Hi have been experiencing same things - 90degree rotation in everything I perceive....even the text book I read...even my computer screen, my room my television video. I can change it by myself and sometimes happens automatically. I am searching since last year about this but never found anything before but now. After reading about it now I understand what It is. But what to do to stop this. Sometimes it just irritates me when I try to understand directions, try to remember things I read in text books, all the things rotates exactly 90 degrees. I have even made a 3d model of my room in both rotation to explain my situation to the people of the world but they dont understand and never will. Help needed indeed. It effects my learning and navigation.
Dec. 15 2012 03:55 PM
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patty harvey
I have this alot, I can be driving along a road I drive all the time, and just look up and not know where I am.It seems to happen more at times of stress,And it usually passes soon. also my sense of direction almost goes away completely after dark.
Apr. 06 2013 04:35 PM
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Nancy Williams from Miami, Fla.
OMG...I almost drove off the road when I heard this radio broadcast with Sharon...I've had this since I was a teenager and
I have 4 distinct "Directions" I've tried explaining it to people, but it is difficult. If I do change directions while I'm driving where it would be difficult to find my way around, I can usually just picture myself back in main direction and I'll switch back to my normal familiarity.I never thought other people experienced this...really amazing to hear the radio broadcast...THANK YOU Sharon for bringing this to light...
Apr. 07 2013 01:12 PM
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Pascal from Grenoble, France
I experience this kind of disorientation every days, but I never really feel lost, I just accept that inside some building or in some towns,
north in not always on the... north side.I've found forums or notes talking about it (mainly by Hugh who has posted here too)... but still nothing in french and I don't know if there is a word for that.
Apr. 29 2013 08:47 AM
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Benjamin Craig from Berkley MI
I do not suffer from this, but there has been several instances where i think this intial "map of my surroundings" gets a little weird. I have excellent sense of direction. My friends call me a crow, that is, I can find my way back to places I have only been to once, usually quite a bit in the past. I also have a strange way of keeping my heading in relation to true north in check. This said, There have been a few instances where I can clearly remember the way my brain has laid out a place that I have been to for the first time. The first was my firsttrip to my high school, on an orientation. The "upness" of this initial "map" has since been rotated 90 degrees. I however still remember like it was yesterday when "up" was flipped back to the initial experience. The two other involve my college campus, and my current place of employment. Eavh involve a 90 flip of "up" from my first conception, with a clear rememberance of the old way I had the place laid out in my head. This interview got me thinking. You guys are the best, I listen everyweek!
Nov. 18 2013 07:56 PM
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Shanti from California
I have had VRI for ever and experience it every day. It was only yesterday that I discovered I am not the only one!
Unlike some of the others, the 90/180 degree displacement happens to me automatically and I cannot change it on my own. This phenom has always intrigued me but I never thought anyone else would be experiencing the same thing and never disclosed it to anyone. Now I know I am not alone,, I feel like Richard Dryfuss in The Close Encounters of the Third kind! I want to learn more about research in this field. Please do share and I will do the same.
Dec. 08 2013 07:45 PM
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Janette from Edmonton, AB. Canada
Oh my gosh!!! I have never found anyone who experienced this - I've had a couple doctors tell me it was a petit mal type of seizure - but in all my own research I could not find anything to describe what happens like this does!!! Sometimes I can control it and play with the different sensations when I change my world orientation.... but like this morning - driving into town on roads I have driven for over 35 years - I could not. Thank goodness my son was with me when I got to downtown - he was able to direct me to his house and then "voila" all of a sudden it switched back and I knew where I was. I feel "spacy" though now this morning.
Jan. 17 2014 11:56 AM
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Joyce from Virginia
I have been aware that I had this problem since I was about 6 years old. I thought I was the only one until I heard Sharon describe it perfectly: it is as if someone picked up the world, turned it 90 degrees, and then set it back down. After telling my mom about it, and making a trip to the eye doctor, no one could figure it out, and I was probably too young to provide a good description. So I have lived with this my whole life. I have learned to navigate
all 4 of my rotations, although I usually stay in one "default" direction. If I am in a building for the first time, and things flip, the only way I can find my way is to mentally picture which way I turned to get to my present position, and then travel that path in reverse to get me back. I find it interesting that we all have 90 degree rotations. My question has always been: I wonder which of my 4 rotations other people "live" in permanently.
Feb. 08 2014 04:28 PM
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Sue from Seattle
I've had this "flip flop vision" since age 3 and it's so fun to hear of others that also have this 'unique ability'!!! I realized I saw the street I lived on as well as my home in two different 'ways' - it wasn't until we moved to a new house that had the same models every few houses that I realized it was 90 degrees. Age 6 I realized my friend's house faced West and mine faced South, the exact same floor plan yet hers was the "flip flopped version". Like others, my mom said "I just wouldn't talk much about it"...mainly because it sounded so weird and she couldn't understand. I grew into it, practicing my drum and bugle corps field formations 4 counts at a time at night in my "flip flop form" lest I be smashed with a baritone if I moved in the wrong direction. What I want to know is do any of you do the flip flop with your eyes closed, sensing when it has flipped, then open your eyes and seeing you're right? Does lead me to believe it has something to do with our sense of direction and our magnetic compass. I have fun with it, but it always snaps back like a stretched rubber band. I'm 52 now and have been toying with it for 49 years alone - so wonderful to hear I'm not the only one!!!
Mar. 07 2014 03:24 AM
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