💡 Imagine licking any object near you right now. How do you know what it would feel like?

How do you know the texture of a brick wall, a mirror, or a couch pillow? From childhood.

In 2002, researchers calculated that babies under two years old put objects in their mouths about 80 times per hour.

During that short childhood period, we build up a massive library of sensations from all kinds of materials.

But thanks to cross-modal perception, your brain can easily and quickly navigate this database even years later. Hebb's rule says: neurons that fire together wire together.

When you look at a porous, rough, or smooth object, your brain instantly pulls up those childhood experiences and recreates the feeling.

Even if you've never actually licked a couch pillow, your brain will still tell you what it would be like.

@hiaimediaen