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How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

cam.ac.uk

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Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#101

Post by djtango »

smogcutter wrote: post #90
resonious wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar here. For a very long time, I thought that being good at something was knowing the system and rules, and applying them consciously every time. It's funny because I legit thought that that's what I was doing while playing video games or doing martial arts (the only things I was reasonably good at for quite awhile). It turns out the learning and doing processes are both deeply subconscious; very little goes on…

Developing that automaticity with a physical skill also unlocks the brain to do other parts that are conscious. After a game, Lebron James can explain what happened in a play moment by moment for every player on the floor, and everything he was thinking and planning as the play developed. He’s done it in post game press conferences off the top of his head. Granted he’s maybe the all time greatest, but it’s illustrati…

Fully agree that mastery allows you to broaden out / think at a higher level. I guess that's the "meta"

I recently read a post about how Nadal gets an unfair stereotype of being brutish due to play style but from a young age in his post match interviews (in Spanish) we would refer to specific points in the match and give critical analysis for how he made adjustments etc.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#102

Post by wizzwizz4 »

readams wrote: post #11
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #9

There's this thing called the "curb-cut effect," where you make a change in order to accommodate people with a specific disability, and it turns out that the change is way more broadly useful than you anticipated. It's named after the ramps at intersections that were mandated by the ADA for folks in wheelchairs, but they turned out to be really good ideas in general and helped folks with strollers, on bicycles, and m…

There are some lucky circumstances where this is true, but most such accommodations are not like that. Usually some trade-off must be made, in cost or in functionality. For example, with those same cut curbs, we now need to put a bumpy panel to allow blind and visually impaired people to feel the transition from curb to street, but these make the cut much worse for anything with wheels.

I don't find it that hard to cycle between the bumps. If you know what to expect, it's easier than a cattle grid.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#103

Post by wruza »

koolala wrote: post #58
hnbad wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did HN start allowing emojis or did that one slip through the cracks because it pre-dates the inclusion of Japanese emojis?

I can't believe this place bans cleverness and Unicode. Oh wait this is a startup farm

Making a good forum is hard, so don’t hate a forum that you find worth visiting for how it works - that makes no sense unless you’re a forum guru or at least know a much better place and want to share it.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#104

Post by koolala »

wruza wrote: post #103
koolala wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe this place bans cleverness and Unicode. Oh wait this is a startup farm

Making a good forum is hard, so don’t hate a forum that you find worth visiting for how it works - that makes no sense unless you’re a forum guru or at least know a much better place and want to share it.

sorry i cant read only english

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#105

Post by RebelMonk »

I was one of the lab rats for this - I signed up so I could get a copy of my brain scan.

I found it quite easy to move blocks around, more complex tasks with more fine control was a bit harder but possible with even a limited amount of time. The only time I struggled was when trying to do anything with the thumb while walking on a treadmill - which should be expected when controlling a device with your toes!

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#106

Post by wruza »

We (sort of) have dozens if not hundreds extra body parts - muscles. Most people cannot move their ears or nostrils separately, have limited mimics, cannot do tricks with poker chips or show someone their ring finger without securing their pinky somehow. That’s because we treat our groups of muscles as a whole. It takes time to learn to separate them and counteract tensions. Maybe it’s the same process?

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#108

Post by hanniabu »

Taniwha wrote: post #29

I broke my Achilles tendon - had to have a FULL reconstruction - they took a tendon that used to help waggle my big toe (the muscle is in my leg) wrapped around my heel and back up my leg and rebuilt my achilles around that - now I have a muscle that used to wiggle my toe than moves my entire foot. How hard was it to relearn? at first I'd try to move my toe and something else would move, it felt weird - but doctor's…

So can you not move your toe anymore?

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#109

Post by koolala »

miika wrote: post #70
koolala wrote: post #42

I started wearing a bath robe belt as a tail and my brain quickly starts telling me I am wearing it when I am not. I also had a phantom watch ⌚ on for a week after losing it.

I quit using Oura ring and it took almost two years until I didn’t have that feeling in my finger that something was missing. With Apple Watch it took half year. Makes me wonder maybe brain adapts faster when you add something, and it takes longer to adapt for loss? Also maybe finger took longer time as there are more nerves there?

I like this hypothesis:)

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#110

Post by poikroequ »

No doubt the human brain is incredibly adaptive, and there are seemingly countless examples of this. Even for people with severe brain damage, who lose some portion of their brain, are able to adapt.

Different parts of the brain can be adapted to serve different purposes. For people who are blind or deaf, these regions of the brain will likely be adapted to serve different purposes.

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