Sep 2, 2009
I'd like to present a glimpse of what goes on in my head when processing a simple task. For this example, I'll assume someone has just asked me the extremely simple question, "How are you?" I've written about this in the past, but I feel like quantifying and graphing my thought processes, since that's sort of what happens in my head anyway.
Human: How are you?
Me: [Brain, engage.]
Me: [I've been asked a question that requires a verbal response.]
Me: [Typical answers: Great, good, pretty good, not bad, nothing much (though this is a wrong answer), bad, awful, terrible, null.]
Me: [Calculating response...]
Me: [Events in the past 10 minutes that affected mood: Thought about something funny that happened earlier, talked to a friend, ate a hot dog. Average mood = 8.5, or in human terms, "good".]
Me: [But what about earlier in the day when I was stuck in traffic?]
Me: [Recalculating...]
Me: [Events in the past 10 hours that affected mood: Got stuck in traffic, hit every single red light, listened to a person talk about their dog, sat around in a meeting. Average mood = 3.8, or in human terms, "bad".]
Me: [But I had a good day yesterday. And two days before that. Should I factor that into my calculation?]
Me: [Recalculating...]
Me: [Events in the past 10 days that affected mood: Went to the beach, got sunburn, relaxed on the couch, slept in. Average mood = 5.5, or in human terms, "pretty good".]
Me: Pretty good. #psychology
Human: How are you?
Me: [Brain, engage.]
Me: [I've been asked a question that requires a verbal response.]
Me: [Typical answers: Great, good, pretty good, not bad, nothing much (though this is a wrong answer), bad, awful, terrible, null.]
Me: [Calculating response...]
![[Image: moodminutes.png]](http://ddhr.org/img/moodminutes.png)
Me: [But what about earlier in the day when I was stuck in traffic?]
Me: [Recalculating...]
![[Image: moodhours.png]](http://ddhr.org/img/moodhours.png)
Me: [But I had a good day yesterday. And two days before that. Should I factor that into my calculation?]
Me: [Recalculating...]
![[Image: mooddays.png]](http://ddhr.org/img/mooddays.png)
Me: Pretty good. #psychology
Ok, I'm almost speechless...
I suppose that's why you take longer than me to answer that question. I usually just factor in the past 5 minutes and answer. In David terms that's half of time plotted on the first graph.
So whats the time from being asked to response? Assuming its shorter than the span of time outlined covered in the thought process your example brings me to a question I have pondered even attempted to calculate. What is the speed of thought? Can thought be an example of travelling faster than the speec of light? Thinkback to your oldest memory. In your minds eye its real and you arrived there pretty quickly............ What is the speed of thought?