The Mind: We Interpret, We Imagine

Abstract

As mentioned in Chapter 3, through repeated bodily engagement our bodies become habituated, automatically and fluently coping with mundane situations without employing high-level cognitive processing. Our attention is then freed up for more sophisticated mental activities like interpretation, remembering, and imagination. Some might have this experience: after traveling between home and a new workplace a few times, we do not need to pay too much attention to finding the way. It is because our body ‘has absorbed’ the path via continuous and simultaneous perception (e.g., recognizing that café around the corner) and bodily sensation (e.g., feeling that unpaved gravel road). We might instead divert our energy to mentally rehearse an upcoming presentation. Typing is another common experience showing the value of habituation. Putting the ten fingers on a keyboard and practicing the keys repeatedly, most of us can acquire the skill to type almost automatically. A typist does not have to explicitly locate the position of a certain key, but he or she can move his or her fingers accordingly while reading her handwritten notes. Hence, one can think about where to eat after work while typing. Similar habitual skills can be developed when using some ‘easy-to-use’ digital applications or interfaces. For instance, the gesture unlock interface of many Android-based smartphones now allows users to unlock the phone by running fingers to draw a pattern preset by the phone owner.