psychoceramics: Motor Control

[Peter Hipwell <petehip @ cogsci.ed.ac.uk>]

I picked this up from sci.cognitive a while back. Memory flashbacks
happen to this guy while performing various things, and these are
linked in terms of some vague motor control abstraction, such as
"going round an object". It's kind of nice, because it actually is
about as developed as some of the theories found in academically
funded cognitive science :) 

From: Enter your Full Name here <probert @ plycol.zynet.co.uk>
Newsgroups: sci.cognitive
Subject: HOW THE BRAIN MIGHT STORE MOTOR INFORMATION
Date: 29 Feb 1996 09:50:02 GMT
Organization: Zynet Ltd
Lines: 418
Message-ID: <4h3ssa$d--@s--.zynet.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: plycol.zynet.co.uk

SOURCE DATA AND COMMENTARY
RELEVANT TO HOW THE BRAIN MIGHT STORE MOTOR INFORMATION
BASED ON OBSERVATIONS GATHERED OVER 30 YEARS

Please pass this file to anyone you know who is working in this field.

This is an analysis of a series of observations gathered over the last
30 years. These observations may reveal something about the way the
brain stores motor information, that is information that involves a
motor action on the part of the individual.

The basic occurrence analysed here is that of the image of a past
event that appears suddenly in the mind: I refer to these images as
'flashbacks'. What I was doing at the moment of the flashback is
referred to as the 'action'.

Sixteen examples follow. The examples are interleaved with commentary.
Where I can date both action and flashback I have done so.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Walking across the room from the stove to the mirror in the flat at
King Street, Bristol (1966). [This is what I was doing at the time of
the flashback.]
FLASHBACK
Facing the pond in Crane Park, Whitton, Middlesex (c.1957). [This is
the image which appeared unexpectedly in the mind.]
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I was walking around a cabinet to get to the mirror.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
It was the first time I had been at the pond; I was looking at the far
side, at a clump of trees, wishing to explore; in order to get to the
clump of trees it was clearly going to be necessary to walk round the
circumference of the water; this was a vivid part of the memory.
CONNECTION
Going round an object.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENTARY
The memory of walking round the pond has been brought up by the action
of walking round the cabinet. In all the examples presented here the
triggering mechanism is one of motor activity.

It is suggested that, as the ability to negotiate our bodies in space
and time is fundamental to our getting about in the world, that an
important function of the brain is the storing and connecting of motor
related information. In meeting a new situation the brain is able to
call upon a store of appropriate motor information in order to carry
out the necessary movements. When a flashback occurs we gain an
insight into the activity going on in the brain.

What is the set of motor commands stored in the brain? Some members of
the set might be indicated by the 'connections' listed in this
article: 'go round', 'wait till clear', 'wait till caught up', 'wait
till prior action finished', etc. If this theory is correct, then the
further recording of actions, flashbacks and connections provides a
way of adding to the known members of the set.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Eating porridge one morning before going off to work (1966).
FLASHBACK
Sitting on my old school bike at a T-junction (pre 1962).
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I had the next mouthful of porridge on the spoon and was waiting for
the food in the mouth to pass down.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
I was on my bike on the way home after school and had stopped at the
T-junction; I was waiting for the traffic to clear before continuing
with the journey home.
CONNECTION
Waiting for something to clear away before proceeding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Flashbacks, by the very unpredictability of their occurrence, are not
easy to gather. They occur when least expected. To encourage their
appearance one must forget about them and get on with life. It is not
possible to go out and look for them. Months pass between occurrences.
When they do occur they are not always clear: the flashback may for
example be of a place that one has been to on several occasions and
what one was once doing in a frequently visited place is never as
clear as when the image is of a place once visited. Flashbacks are
most likely to occur when one is preoccupied in some physical activity
yet in a relaxed frame of mind, when the stresses of work or life are
minimal. I suspect flashbacks are unlikely to occur when listening to
the radio or television: in my own case my life has been spent without
television, much of it without the radio.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Singing a song to my children at bedtime. 
FLASHBACK
Ascending Bellever Tor on Dartmoor from the north. 
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
One of my daughters was singing along too; I had been a couple of
notes ahead; I was waiting for her to catch up.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
I was halfway up the tor with my son and was waiting for the rest of
the family to come up; they were ascending slowly, one of them
searching for bilberries.
CONNECTION
Waiting for someone to catch up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the approach I adopted and recommend for the successful
recording of actions and flashbacks. Both what one is doing (the
action) and the image (the flashback) are both transient, but the more
fleeting is the action: it is essential to stop and grasp hold of
precisely what one is doing at the moment of the flashback, and yet at
the same time one must try not to lose the image; the gathering
together of the two vital bits of information needs to take place in a
matter of two or three or four seconds. Then, as soon as the essential
natures of the two bits of information have been grasped, the search
for the connection should be begun; the connection, if one is to be
found, will be spotted within another second or two. Finally, having
grasped action, flashback and connection, the whole should be written
down instantly before the details fade.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Scraping fried onion from a frying pan onto a plate.
FLASHBACK
Sitting in a train that had stopped in a station.
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
Some of the onion on the pan was by the handle; I was in the action of
pushing it sideways out of the way of the handle preparatory to
scraping it over the edge onto the plate.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
I was looking through a double line of fence and waiting for the train
to move on as the lines of fencing were obscuring something that I
wanted to look at in more detail.
CONNECTION
Waiting for a prior action to take place before being able to proceed
with a desired activity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Looking in the mirror.
FLASHBACK
Standing in a built-up area I had not been to for a long time.
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I was idly inspecting the side of my nose to see if an old scar I once
had was still there. (It wasn't.)
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
I was looking to see whether an old building I remembered was still
there.
CONNECTION
Looking to see if something was still there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The triggering mechanism in these examples is language independent. A
dog or goose might be as likely to experience a motor activity related
flashback as would a human.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Watching my youngest daughter eating (1979).
FLASHBACK
Discovering sparassis crispa (an edible fungus) in a woodland glade
(1975).
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
My daughter had a bowl of hot soup before her; she had a raised spoon
of the soup in her hand; my wife was telling her to blow; I was
watching to see if the air from her blow connected with the raised
spoon (usually when she blew her lower lip was too far forward and she
would blow over the object).
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
The fungus was not at the base of a stump but a little way off; this
is a fungus that grows in association with trees; I was looking to see
if there was perhaps a long subterranean root from the stump leading
out in the direction of the fungus.
CONNECTION
Looking for a physical connection between two things.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It is necessary to distinguish between recollections and flashbacks. I
see snow falling and remember sledging with the children one winter:
that is a recollection, not a flashback. I am invited to a meal,
suddenly there is the taste of lamb fat in the mouth and straight away
I am transported in my mind back to the 1950s, to boarding school, to
the dining hall, sitting there after others had left until my plate
was empty: that too is a recollection, not a flashback. The cause of a
recollection is usually obvious. When a flashback occurs one finds
oneself thinking, hello, where did that image pop up from?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Writing.
FLASHBACK
A lorry I was in while hitchhiking. It had stopped in a housing estate
to deliver some goods.
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I had ended an item within speech marks with this' and was in the act
of correcting it to read this?' As I was changing this' to this?' I
had the problem that there was not enough room for the ? mark between
the s and the quote; the ? mark was inserted with some difficulty.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
The lorry was too wide for the street; there was barely room for it to
park.
CONNECTION
Attempting an action in which there is too little room for it to take
place easily.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It is possible that, after having noted a motor connection in one
case, I might have incorrectly found such a connection in other cases;
indeed the true triggering mechanism may not be one of motor activity
at all. It is not easy however to think of another mechanism, or even
to believe that there is no mechanism, that the image is a purely
random happening: the connection is not something that has to be
searched for, it is apparent within seconds of the flashback
occurring. At times of course the flashback is too ill defined to be
analysed, and then the search for a connection cannot even be begun.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Writing.
FLASHBACK
Entering a confectionery shop which had its premises by a bus stop.
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I was writing rapidly, trying to keep pace with my thoughts. Noticing
that a full stop couldn't be seen I decided it didn't matter and
continued with the writing.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
I was coming back from work and had hesitated briefly outside the
confectionery shop, looking to see if a bus was coming. As I couldn't
see the bus I continued the journey into the shop.
CONNECTION
Carrying on with the proposed action instead of the alternative
action.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have tried without success to persuade various friends and relatives
(to whom the theory of motor connection would not have been revealed
beforehand) to note a series of actions and flashbacks and to try and
determine for themselves the triggering mechanism. It is clear that
resources beyond my reach are needed to carry out additional research.
Suitable data subjects may be hard to find: some lifestyles may be
more conductive than others to the experiencing of flashbacks, and the
period of time in which the researcher would need to stay in contact
with the data subject is not short. Having a large number of data
subjects would ease the latter problem, but obtaining a large number
of subjects is in itself a problem. Without explaining the nature of
the connection that one is looking for it is difficult to make clear
the difference between a motor related flashback and a simple
recollection triggered by the sight of an object or by some other
sensation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Reading.
FLASHBACK
Standing in a telephone box in Basle, Switzerland.
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I was reading Shakespeare's Winter's Tale I ii and, having come across
the word basilisk, was articulating the syllables one by one:
bas-il-isk.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
This was the most significant time I had been in Basle, a time when I
had wished to be in Bern and was vividly conscious of the separation.
CONNECTION
Handling discrete items separated from one another in time and space.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this (the ability to handle discrete items separated from one
another in time and space) a function dependent upon the
sophistication of human language? The ability of animals to handle a
sequence of concepts (e.g. small birds activating a series of gadgets
on a bird table to release a nut) indicates that such a function is
within the grasp of whatever language of thought non-human animals are
equipped with.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Singing a song to my children at bedtime (Plymouth 1979).
FLASHBACK
Crossing the old two layer bridge in the Cumberland Basin, Bristol
(c.1964).
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
In the middle of the song I began to yawn; I was wondering if one of
my children would say 'Go on!' before I got back to the song.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
As is my way I would certainly have wondered if we would get across
without reprimand as it was not at all clear initially whether or not
we were trespassing.
CONNECTION
Pursuing an action in which there is the possibility of interruption.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
During the hours of sleep could the brain be going through the
experiences of the previous day, seeking out and establishing
connections with experiences already stored? This might account for
some of the curious connections and transformations that take place
during dreams.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Juggling four balls (Plymouth 1988).
FLASHBACK
Standing at the cross roads near Basle Zoo (Switzerland 1985).
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I was juggling four balls in the pattern 534; this is a complex
pattern in which the balls are rising to three different heights; I
was watching to see if the highest ball in its descent would miss a
ball which was ascending at the same time.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
The cross roads were tricky to cross; I was eyeing a bank of traffic
which was lined up and ready to start moving as soon as the lights
changed; the question was whether we (I, my wife and three children)
could get across before the traffic began to move.
CONNECTION
Watching to see if something could avoid being hit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a brief observation about juggling, not relevant to the theme
but possibly of interest. When juggling a large number of balls (5 is
common these days, many can now do 7, a few can manage 9, there are
records of a handful who have managed some throws with 11) the eyes
are busy spotting one ball as it peaks at the top of the pattern while
the hands are processing balls that were spotted by the eyes some time
previously. While the juggle is proceeding the brain is queueing up
information which has been captured by the eyes for subsequent
processing by the hands. The queue is organised on a first-in first-
out basis.

Anyone interested in the mathematics of juggling is invited to look on
the WWW at
http://www.zynet.co.uk/plycol/books/4b/contents.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Looking at something red in the semolina pudding (Plymouth 1980).
FLASHBACK
Looking at something fluttering while ascending a path on the side of
the valley opposite Simplon Dorf in Switzerland (1979).
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I was wondering what it was. A squashed raisin? Fruit from the red
jam? Burnt semolina? (In fact the last.)
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
I was wondering if it might be a plume moth. (It was.)
CONNECTION
Looking at an object while attempting to identify it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Slicing cheese on a bread board (Plymouth 1982).
FLASHBACK
Walking back to a friend's house with my friend and his small son
(Bristol 1971).
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
The cheese was a thick lump; the cheese was coming off in three
slivers, first a sliver from the top, then one from the middle, then
one from the bottom.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
The small son was tired and not in the mood for walking home; I was
going ahead, finding something of interest - a bug on a plant,
anything - and saying 'Look, here's an interesting bug (or whatever)'
and he would come hurrying up, and so we got home.
CONNECTION
Handling an action that is taking place in stages.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd like to tuck a little idea in here: quite possibly a totally
crackpot idea. It might be that memories kept in the brain cause a
change in the physical structure of the brain, a change which remains
after death. If so then it would be worth while taking great care of
bodies such as Ice Man which are recovered from glaciers. If in the
future it ever became possible to 'read' the memories stored in
excavated brain matter then in one sense time travel would be a
possibility in that we would have a way of recovering at least
something from the time before written evidence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Cutting a potato in slices.
FLASHBACK
Leaving the Paperback Bookshop with my parents. 
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
A slice had stuck to the knife. I was watching for the slice to fall
off as the next slice rose up the side of the knife.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
My parents were going off to visit a big store while I went off in a
different direction.
CONNECTION
Dealing with a situation in which one item goes off in a different
direction from the others.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Cutting carrot with a knife.
FLASHBACK
Seeing the Needles Bay on the Isle of Wight during a visit with
relatives. 
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
Looking down at a thin slice of carrot on a knife.
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
Seeing the curve of the Bay.
CONNECTION
Looking at a curved outline.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the only flashback which I have reinterpreted after the
initial analysis. My first interpretation was that the IMAGE of the
one curve had brought up the image of the other: now I am inclined to
think that it is the LOOKING at the one curve that had brought up the
activity of looking at the other. The slow looking along the sweeping
curve of a bay is a significant activity, and the study of the outline
of objects plays an important part in their recognition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION
Copying some text (Plymouth 1983).
FLASHBACK
On bicycles with a friend at a bosky side turning in Ludlow (1976).
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION
I was copying and abbreviating the sentence 'If powers divine Behold
our human actions, as they do, I doubt not then but...' (from A
Winter's Tale III ii 26); what I was writing was 'If powers divine
Behold our... actions... I doubt not then but...' [It is mere
coincidence that there are two occasions among the examples here in
which the Winter's Tale features. The incidents are separated by
several years.]
ANALYSIS OF THE FLASHBACK
We left the road we had been following to go to a hill fort; after a
very short distance we changed our minds, returned to the former road
without ascending to the fort, then carried on.
CONNECTION
Dealing with a situation in which there is a departure from and a
return to a course of action.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have used the WWW to post a few copies of this file around the
world: please redirect your copy to anyone who might find it useful. I
have been recording these observations for 30 years without being in
any way connected with cybernetics, robotics or cognitive research. I
am not a reader of publications (electronic or otherwise) in these
areas. If you have found the information useful please let me know:
unless you do so I will never know. Don't assume someone else has
informed me. Comments on the contents of the article, or information
of related investigations in the area of animal motor control, or
arguments that the triggering mechanism in flashbacks is different
from what I have suggested, would all be welcome.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin Probert, February 1996
55 Higher Compton Road, Hartley, Plymouth, PL3 5JA, UK
E-mail (at time of writing): p--@p--.zynet.co.uk