Anyone watch Horizon last night?

rick_chasey

Reasonably interesting study at what role our unconscious part of the brain does.

The premise was that it turns out it does the vast majority of what we do, including decision making.

Seemed particularly relevant to us cyclists.

Basically the unconscious mind takes up anything that doesn't require 100% concentration. So for example, it's dictating where my hands and fingers go to type while I think about what to write in this little bit. I don't consciously place every finger on every key.

Similarly, the unconscious mind makes decisions regarding how we approach certain tasks (like, for example, catching a model helicopter flying around a room), that is totally different to the way we 'think' we are approaching the task.

The learning process of a technique or skill is basically wiring it into the unconscious bit, so we can busy ourselves with more interesting stuff - like arguing with that moped who cut you up while you knock out 20kph on your bike and automatically avoid potholes.

jonginge

Yes, interesting stuff.

The sports scientists blog has done a few articles on choking, which is very similar: conscious part of the brain taking over the subconscious and inducing behaviour more akin to a learner rather than a champion.

http://www.sportsscientists.com/search?q=choking

The main one from that search is about rugby but there's one somewhere about tennis.

Here's another goodie about practice:
http://www.sportsscientists.com/search?q=10000+hours

They also do good analysis of cycling after/during some of the major events

EKE_38BPM

My current mindset (posting about Chinese censorship and American detention in Guantanamo) made me automatically think of waterboarding when I saw choking in JG's post. I had to click the link to realise that they were talking about bottling it in a sporting context.

Gotta do some proper work!

y33stu

Saw most of it, before falling asleep, (my subconscious must have been tired) and thought it was really interesting. Just shows how much of life we really see or take part in. Made me think of this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo - Count the basketball passes.

jonginge

y33stu wrote:

Saw most of it, before falling asleep, (my subconscious must have been tired) and thought it was really interesting. Just shows how much of life we really see or take part in. Made me think of this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo - Count the basketball passes.

I was waiting for them to discuss that and how much driving (and cycling and other tasks) is done on auto-pilot

rick_chasey

Yeah.

The vision bit (they had a guy who, due to brain damage, was totally blind to anything he saw on the right), was interesting.

Blind guy can't actually see stuff moving, but can 'sense' stuff moving.

I swear that's what some people on here call 'spidey senses'.

il_principe

Thanks for the heads up. This is exactly the sort of stuff that my new employer deals in - primarily from a marketing perspective. I'll have a watch. It's terrifying once you realise hope many decisions you make sub-conciously, many of which you then post-rationalise. What's even worse is that many retailers etc are taking advantage of this knowledge to manipulate you in the "purchase" environment. Some of it is ethically questionable...

I saw a great film the other day about a woman who (thanks to a stroke) has lost the ability to make subconscious decisions. Her life is miserable, even things like trips to Tesco have to be planned in advance, then if she sees any special offers etc she has to sit down and work out all the pros and cons before she dares make a purchase. The rest of us are basically lazy - or as my boss says, we're all cognitive misers.

EKE_38BPM

A good programme. It is scary how much we can achieve on autopilot. I've driven to the wrong destination and not really remembered driving there, just because that is where I normally go on that day.

Driving/cycling drunk is pure autopilot. Good thing my autopilot is teetotal!

asprilla

JonGinge wrote:

Yes, interesting stuff.

The sports scientists blog has done a few articles on choking, which is very similar: conscious part of the brain taking over the subconscious and inducing behaviour more akin to a learner rather than a champion.

http://www.sportsscientists.com/search?q=choking

The main one from that search is about rugby but there's one somewhere about tennis.

Here's another goodie about practice:
http://www.sportsscientists.com/search?q=10000+hours

They also do good analysis of cycling after/during some of the major events

Bounce by Matthew Syed is very readable (if somewhat repetitive) on this subject.

jonginge

That's what triggered the search term above. There was discussion about whether the 10000hrs was generally applicable or a load of old chuff.

meanredspider

I'm sure there's loads going on in our heads beyond the conscious.

I know I get a nagging feeling that I always listen to that I've forgotten something as I leave the house (no - not my trousers). It's always right - just wish I had a technique for accessing what it is I've forgotten as it can be something really obscure

bails87

I've noticed this when playing Fifa/PES on the PS3. Or even worse (because I'm not used to it) the Xbox.

When I haven't played it for ages it takes a load of effort just to remember what button does what. So I end up being rubbish at it.

Then I play a bit more and the button presses come naturally, so now I think about moving player X to position Y, and am able to quickly react with a button press when something happens. I think "pass" and instinctively press X, rather than thinking "I need to pass so....err...oh yeah, press X"

Then I play even more and I don't have to think about where the individual players are. I end up with a more 'strategic' view and subconciously position players/shoot/pass/tackle where they'll have the most impact.

I'm still not very good at it, but at least it's easier!

meanredspider

Isn't there some martial arts expression called "doing not-doing"? I think it's kind of linked to all of this (someone who actually knows something about this will come along soon and correct me)

jonginge

My current earworm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uEKysxfRFU

Twostage

On a related subject I read an article in scientific American a couple of years ago about how your eyes and brain interact. The gist was that your eyes notice things before your consciousness does and they steer you towards them. They are literally saying "look at this". On my commute I go past an advertising hoarding promoting an adult fun shop. It's only in the last couple of weeks where I haven't been through the eyes right, oh look it's a scantily clad girl that I've seen nearly every day, there's no need to look next time routine. I'm now conscious of the fact that I've passed it without looking.

kelsen

meanredspider wrote:

Isn't there some martial arts expression called "doing not-doing"? I think it's kind of linked to all of this (someone who actually knows something about this will come along soon and correct me)

Don't know about that expression, but Bruce Lee said* something along the lines of 'Before you study martial arts, a punch is just a punch. When you learn martial arts, a punch is more than a punch. After you master the art, a punch is just a punch'

*or most likely plagiarised from somewhere else, cos he did that a lot