"If I were to stand on your left side and snap my fingers next to your left ear, you would hear one snap. It would be a little louder on your left side, but still it would register as one snap.

If you think about that, you might wonder: How come I didn't hear two snaps? After all, the sound entered your left ear right away and had to travel around your head into the right ear (which must have taken a little time). So your right ear heard it a little later, and yet it registered as one simultaneous event.

This is what Eagleman calls "temporal binding": The brain manages to synchronize what's happening even though sensory data comes through your eyes, ears, tongue and skin at slightly ...

"If I were to stand on your left side and snap my fingers next to your left ear, you would hear one snap. It would be a little louder on your left side, but still it would register as one snap.

If you think about that, you might wonder: How come I didn't hear two snaps? After all, the sound entered your left ear right away and had to travel around your head into the right ear (which must have taken a little time). So your right ear heard it a little later, and yet it registered as one simultaneous event.

This is what Eagleman calls "temporal binding": The brain manages to synchronize what's happening even though sensory data comes through your eyes, ears, tongue and skin at slightly different times and speeds. Because the snap arrived more quickly at the left ear than the right ear, the brain had to edit the difference to give you a feeling of simultaneity.

"How is the resolution so precise, given that the signals are so smeared out in space and time?"