ROTATE AND DROP

There is another version of Reflex engagement which we know as pattern recognition. Again, this mental activity is hardwired into our brains. It is typified by our ability to look at human faces from many different angles, in different lighting conditions, disguised by sunglasses or clothing, and still identify those faces as belonging to specific people.

Our brains seek patterns in all the information that it perceives. This hardwired penchant for pattern recognition is why we see pictures in clouds. It is also why a very primitive video game addicted so many people around the world. That game, of course, was Tetris.

Tetris was a wildly successful game because not only could it be played on virtually any graphic display, [Each block in the animation on the left is a single enlarged pixel - ] but also because it successfully exploited that moment of unconscious pleasure we feel when we find a pattern.

Watching the animation, most of you are thinking, "No, nope, no, rotate, rotate, no, move over, no, no, no, no, it’s gettin’ there... yea!" Pattern recognition is hard wired.