Can’t speak for Nancy, but I think I know what she refers to.
Different people have different thought… processes, I guess is the word. My brother’s thought process is, by his description, functional; he assigns parts of his mind tasks, and gets the results back in a stack. (He’s pretty good at multi-tasking, as a result.) My own thought process is, as Nancy specifies, an internal monologue; I’m literally talking to myself. (Although the conversation is only partially English. It’s kind of like… 4Chan. Each “line” of dialogue is associated with an “image” (in some cases each word, depending on the complexity of the concept encoded in it), which is an abstract conceptualization. If you’ve ever read a flow-of-consciousness book, that’s kind of like a low-resolution version of what’s going on in my brain, and, I presume, hers.
I’ve actually discovered at least one other “mode” I can switch my brain into—I call it Visual Mode. Whereas normally my attention is very tunnel vision-ish (I can track only one object reliably), I can expand my consciousness (at the cost of eliminating the flow-of-consciousness that is usually my mind) and be capable of tracking multiple objects in my field of vision. (I cannot, for some reason, actually move my eyes while in this state; it breaks my concentration and returns me to a “normal” mode of thought.) I’m capable of thinking in this state, but oddly, incapable of tracking or remembering what those thoughts are; I can sustain a full conversation which I will not remember, at all, later.
Hm, the obvious question there is: “How do you know you can sustain a full conversation, if you don’t remember it at all later?” (..edit: With other people? Er, right. Somehow I was assuming it was an internal conversation.)
I’ve got some idea what you’re talking about, though—focusing my consciousness entirely on sensory input. More useful outside of cities, and I don’t have any kind of associated amnesia, but it seems similar to how I’d describe the state otherwise.
Neither your brother’s nor your own thought processes otherwise seem to be any kind of match for mine. It’s interesting that there’s this much variation, really.
I’ve actually discovered at least one other “mode” I can switch my brain into—I call it Visual Mode.
I can do a weaker version of this—basically, by telling my brain to “focus on the entire field of your perception” as if it was a single object. As far as I am aware, it doesn’t do any of the mental effects you describe for me. It’s very relaxing though.
Can’t speak for Nancy, but I think I know what she refers to.
Different people have different thought… processes, I guess is the word. My brother’s thought process is, by his description, functional; he assigns parts of his mind tasks, and gets the results back in a stack. (He’s pretty good at multi-tasking, as a result.) My own thought process is, as Nancy specifies, an internal monologue; I’m literally talking to myself. (Although the conversation is only partially English. It’s kind of like… 4Chan. Each “line” of dialogue is associated with an “image” (in some cases each word, depending on the complexity of the concept encoded in it), which is an abstract conceptualization. If you’ve ever read a flow-of-consciousness book, that’s kind of like a low-resolution version of what’s going on in my brain, and, I presume, hers.
I’ve actually discovered at least one other “mode” I can switch my brain into—I call it Visual Mode. Whereas normally my attention is very tunnel vision-ish (I can track only one object reliably), I can expand my consciousness (at the cost of eliminating the flow-of-consciousness that is usually my mind) and be capable of tracking multiple objects in my field of vision. (I cannot, for some reason, actually move my eyes while in this state; it breaks my concentration and returns me to a “normal” mode of thought.) I’m capable of thinking in this state, but oddly, incapable of tracking or remembering what those thoughts are; I can sustain a full conversation which I will not remember, at all, later.
Hm, the obvious question there is: “How do you know you can sustain a full conversation, if you don’t remember it at all later?” (..edit: With other people? Er, right. Somehow I was assuming it was an internal conversation.)
I’ve got some idea what you’re talking about, though—focusing my consciousness entirely on sensory input. More useful outside of cities, and I don’t have any kind of associated amnesia, but it seems similar to how I’d describe the state otherwise.
Neither your brother’s nor your own thought processes otherwise seem to be any kind of match for mine. It’s interesting that there’s this much variation, really.
Otherwise.. see sibling post for more details.
I can do a weaker version of this—basically, by telling my brain to “focus on the entire field of your perception” as if it was a single object. As far as I am aware, it doesn’t do any of the mental effects you describe for me. It’s very relaxing though.