Re:Consciousness Is Just a Feeling
by User23 on Thursday March 04, 2021 @11:32AM
(#26344498)
My wife does this to me. She'll be talking about something and I'm not listening but I make semi-plausible automatic responses. Sometimes she catches on that I wasn't paying attention and calls me out on it. At that point the last 6-7 seconds of speech pops into my mind like magic and I can pay attention to it and respond. Sadly sometimes that's not enough to deduce what she was talking about.
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Re:Consciousness Is Just a Feeling
by omginternets on Thursday March 04, 2021 @11:39AM
(#26344610)
Yes! We informally referred to this as the "double-take phenomenon", and our hunch is that this is exactly what is going on.
During my Ph.D, I would often spot this on my way to the lab. I would be seated in the subway early in the morning, and suddenly realize that the name of a station had just been announced, but that I hadn't heard it. Then, it was suddenly like I had heard it -- as if the trace sensory signal in auditory cortex had been isolated and amplified by my attentional system, before it fully dissipated.
It was (and still is) super cool.
Probably quite a separate phenomenon, but if I wake when it's still night and I want to know what time it is, I'll often blink my eyes open for a tiny fraction of a second to see the glowing alarm clock. I often don't know what time it is until I "read" the time from my memory. (It's either my memory or the after-image on my retina.)
When my partner does this to me I call it his "audio buffering" mode -- he'll be absorbed in something and make no indication that he's heard me, but if I wait long enough (in the 15-60 second range), it'll suddenly make it all the way to his conscious attention and he'll respond as though there was no gap at all.
My wife and I say “I back heard you”. it’s kind of a funny in-joke for us because of the quasi non-sense word.
I use similar techniques (plus muscle memory, visual, etc.) as a short term memory scratch pad - especially when highly sleep deprived.
Re:Consciousness Is Just a Feeling
by birdyrooster on Thursday March 04, 2021 @01:19PM
(#26346040)
Sounds like inattentive ADHD or auditory processing disorder, where symptoms like this are typical. Unless you are thoughtfully meaning to give plausible responses instead of pay attention, then nvm!
Re:Consciousness Is Just a Feeling
by omginternets on Thursday March 04, 2021 @01:44PM
(#26346381)
Please don't throw around diagnoses like that. You're not wrong, but the hallmark of psychiatric disorders is usually degree, not nature. Everybody checks out from time to time; ADHD people just do it more. You are not equipped to make that call, here.
Re:Consciousness Is Just a Feeling
by GoblinSlayer on Thursday March 04, 2021 @01:56PM
(#26346547)
You never heard women nagging?