Your brain on 4K: why sharp pictures feel different

Try this. Find a photo on your phone that you love. Now squint, or zoom out until it's the size of a stamp. It's still the same photo. You can still tell what's in it. But something about it has gone a little flat — the part that made you take it in the first place has quietly walked out of the room. Most of us would describe what just happened with a shrug: "it's just smaller." But the truth is more interesting. Your brain is doing different work depending on how much detail it's being handed,