No, I'm not upset over something; I'm seriously wondering "why."
Why DO certain things happen?
.............................
I was leaving my 6th period class in High School today, and while I was going down the crowded hall, I wondered why things work right. To be specific: How do people know which side to step to when they walk right in front of each-other? I don't know, but I think it's some instinctive behavior to aim to a certain side to avoid hitting someone. I've seen people accidently brush in to each-other, and even bump smack in to each-other, but it's very uncommon. There must be something behind our strategic maneuvering in crowded areas!
Of course, I soon realized that I was confusing myself. I also realized that there are many other of these questions that can confuse a person! For example: Why can a person learn to ride a bicycle, not ride it for years, and still know how to when they get back on, but when learning a word in a different language, you're always forgetting!
I stopped before I got myself dizzy, but then I also realized: Thinking about a word, any word, for long enough, will cause the word to seem really weird? Words like "can" and "state" sounded weird in particular.
Dang, the Human mind works in strange ways.
ID:3677
 Sep 7 2005, 2:03 pm
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Yeh, I agree with that one.
With the hallway thing, I believe it is that you stay on your right side, because that's how it works in our society, everwhere, because of driving. I just recently started riding a bicycle again to get places, and I am amazed about how I can ride it so well even after all this time. Same happened with my friend on her bike when we both got bikes together. I bet I could also kick ass on a pogo stick, too, and that's been about 10 years ago. | |
With the hallway thing, I believe it is that you stay on your right side, because that's how it works in our society, everwhere, because of driving. Yeah, you Americans are really weird with that. And you Europeans on the continent. Everyone knows you should drive on the *left* side! <=| Anyway, you learn to ride a bicycle and you store it in your...um, I forget the name of the part of the brain. It's the same part that remembers how to walk. It's a basic movement- wheras remembering a word in a different language is stored in an entirely different part of the brain. Various models have been designed to try and explain memory, some more adequate than others. Psychologists still do not know the precise and true model for memory (personally I think it'll be more attainable when brain scientists develop brain scanning and monitoring technologies beyond the current level, so we can see exactly what parts are active to a high degree of accuracy). There's certain experiments you can perform to try and figure out whether a model works or not. In basic terms, think of it like trying to figure out how a function/proc goes in DM, without access to the source code. Tests on people memorising and repeating words to themselves suggest that memory is passed through one section of the 'procedure' of memorising things and if it's reinforced and made strong enough, then it will be remembered. I really can't remember any terminology (I did psychology for GCSE last year), but over time these memories fade and stuff...but that's just one model...there are loads. I'm going to stop talking out of my ass and give you some links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_memory | |
Quote from the muscle memory link:
"Apparently, temporary loss or impairment of proprioception may happen periodically during growth, mostly during adolescence. Possible experiences include: suddenly feeling that feet or legs are missing from your mental self-image; the need to look down at arms, hands, legs, etc. to convince yourself that they are still there; falling down while walking, especially when attention is focused upon something other than the act of walking (e.g., looking at a person who started talking or reading a billboard)." Interestingly, I've been victim of this. I can't think of anything else to explain it. Back many years ago I was at this park with the school and I was walking along the grass. Suddenly my feet dissappeared and I fell smack down onto the grass without a second of warning! I was there for about 5 seconds before I could get up again. I just couldn't get up, at all. I had no way of doing so, as if it was beyond the comprehension of my body and legs. | |
...Odd. Odd. Odd?
Odd.