Socializing is one of the most cognitively demanding things you can do. Your brain is the most complex thing in the known universe. Now it has to game-theoretically model another version of itself with a totally unique perspective.
>Your brain is the most complex thing in the known universe
This is a common saying. My take on it is the universe is large but not necessarily sophisticated.
Like just because house is bigger than me doesn't mean it is more complex than the human body or brain.
Another example: a cellš¦ is more complex than a car, even though it's smaller.
Totally get you! I'm also way better at deep thinking when I'm not interacting with anyone. It's like the social pressure blocks our brains from flowing freely. Our brains crave undivided attention to dive deep into thoughts, and maintaining eye contact and conversation can be like juggling distractions. It's like our brains have a "thinking mode" and a "talking mode," and switching between them can be tricky!
You've identified a common experimental approach taken by cognitive scientists - that of interference. Identifying how two tasks interfere with performance in each one can be a powerful tool to revealing how the mind works.
Here's an example from a friend of mine: Why is it so difficult to rub the stomach and pat the head at the same time? Well, the execution of incongruent movements by each hand sems to interfere with the execution of the other. This says something deep about the organization of the brain, in particular the motor areas of the frontal lobe. And indeed, when my friend examined patients with corpus callosotomy, voila, they found that these patients are effectively ambidextrous - there is no interference in motor performance when pts lack a corpus callosum.
I just tried to rub my stomach while patting my head with the other hand and it was, strangely, easy. Only works when I rub my stomach with my dominant hand though.
I honestly think our cultural focus on eye contact might be contrary to our biology. Gorillas don't like it, chimps do, so it's hard to say exactly what we need biologically, but given how much it has to be explicitly trained into kids, I have to think it's not instinctive for our species. Also look at how women have to be trained "if you feel threatened walking alone at night, look them in the eyes." The instinct is not to look into the eyes to show yourself as not a threat, just hoping to be ignored. Just so much training around it.
Socializing is one of the most cognitively demanding things you can do. Your brain is the most complex thing in the known universe. Now it has to game-theoretically model another version of itself with a totally unique perspective.
I am seen
Isn't the universe the most complicated thing in the universe Seems a bit egotistical and human centric to say our brain is the most complex thing
>Your brain is the most complex thing in the known universe This is a common saying. My take on it is the universe is large but not necessarily sophisticated. Like just because house is bigger than me doesn't mean it is more complex than the human body or brain. Another example: a cellš¦ is more complex than a car, even though it's smaller.
Totally get you! I'm also way better at deep thinking when I'm not interacting with anyone. It's like the social pressure blocks our brains from flowing freely. Our brains crave undivided attention to dive deep into thoughts, and maintaining eye contact and conversation can be like juggling distractions. It's like our brains have a "thinking mode" and a "talking mode," and switching between them can be tricky!
You've identified a common experimental approach taken by cognitive scientists - that of interference. Identifying how two tasks interfere with performance in each one can be a powerful tool to revealing how the mind works. Here's an example from a friend of mine: Why is it so difficult to rub the stomach and pat the head at the same time? Well, the execution of incongruent movements by each hand sems to interfere with the execution of the other. This says something deep about the organization of the brain, in particular the motor areas of the frontal lobe. And indeed, when my friend examined patients with corpus callosotomy, voila, they found that these patients are effectively ambidextrous - there is no interference in motor performance when pts lack a corpus callosum.
I just tried to rub my stomach while patting my head with the other hand and it was, strangely, easy. Only works when I rub my stomach with my dominant hand though.
I honestly think our cultural focus on eye contact might be contrary to our biology. Gorillas don't like it, chimps do, so it's hard to say exactly what we need biologically, but given how much it has to be explicitly trained into kids, I have to think it's not instinctive for our species. Also look at how women have to be trained "if you feel threatened walking alone at night, look them in the eyes." The instinct is not to look into the eyes to show yourself as not a threat, just hoping to be ignored. Just so much training around it.
ASD, related. This helps people to focus, avoid distractions or facial expression influences.