My cognitive-science professor from last semester tells a story about a time when he was at a conference and was struck by a really great idea for an experiment. He found a pencil quickly, but the paper took him a little longer to locate, and after he frantically wrote down this inspiration, he noticed that his left arm wanted to do something instinctively. At first he was planning to ignore it since there didn't seem to be any need for his left arm to make any movements, but he changed his mind and decided to explore it since it was a pretty strong impulse that he was receiving and he was intrigued by it. So he thought about it and realised it was localised to two fingers, and when he let them move in the way they'd wanted to, my professor realised that his left hand was automatically going for the CTRL+S.
Bottom line: these sorts of moments (I've also tried to hit CTRL+Z while handwriting) can make you feel pretty idiotic, but then they also provide interesting insights into muscle-memory and motor-patterns.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 11:42 am (UTC)Bottom line: these sorts of moments (I've also tried to hit CTRL+Z while handwriting) can make you feel pretty idiotic, but then they also provide interesting insights into muscle-memory and motor-patterns.