8 Basic Functions That Humans Totally Fail At

Ask the average person to accurately estimate the height of a building or the size of a space and, more often than not, their guess will be wildly off (unless they've had a lot of practice). Humans, it turns out, are pretty terrible at estimating the size, weight, distance and timings of most things and this could be due to a number of factors. 

One hypothesis is that we skew our guesses based on what we already know just by looking. For example, if we know something is very high, we will overestimate (i.e. I won't survive the fall), if a task is simple, we will underestimate how long it will take to complete (i.e. I'm very clever) -  the brain doesn't use numbers very well but tends to calculate things based on our physical experiences.

There is also a strange phenomenon that occurs in humans thats called the size-weight illusion. If a person picks up two objects of the same weight, but different sizes, they will usually think that the smaller object is heavier. Scientists think this may well be due to the developments of our ability to throw. It is much easier to throw a smaller, heavier object a further distance (say, a rock), than it is to throw a bigger one with the same mass (like a beach ball). 

The theory is that, when you weigh up two objects, you're actually calculating its "throwability". In tests, it was found that objects that were rated as equally "throwable" usually turned out to be of equal weight, suggesting that this is the measurement your brain is working to, rather than in pounds or kilograms, meaning that you're much more likely to get the actual measurements wrong in favour of how effective it would be at knocking an antelope out.

This leads us to some good news...