20 questions answered by the man who looked at the world upside-down

Atsuki Higashiyama, winner of the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize for perception, answers 20 questions, in the Japan Times. It begins:

Ig Nobel perception prize winner Atsuki Higashiyama: ‘Psychology teaches us to be scientific and skeptical’

BY J.J. O’DONOGHUE

SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

Name: Atsuki Higashiyama

Age: 65

Nationality: Japanese

Occupation: Professor of psychology, Ritsumeikan University

Likes: Walking, spending a whole day not thinking

Dislikes: Business, teaching

1. Please explain your research on perception. My research focuses on 3-D perception — the relationship between visual perception and body orientation.

2. Did you ever expect to win an Ig Nobel prize? No, never. It was a complete surprise.

3. What prize did you receive? I received 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, a 61-second clock, a certificate and a very warm welcome.

4. Describe the pose that is synonymous with your research. I sometimes, not often, take the pose of bending over and looking between my legs. I have encouraged participants of the experiments to take this pose for a very short elapsed time on every trial. If we kept this pose for a long time, the blood would pile in the brain, which should be avoided….

BONUS: Watch Professor Higashiyama receive the prize, in this video of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony (the prize is announced at the 1:20:05 point in this video):