3 ms·

I can see that happening. For example he could've been mentally stuck in a "Australian aborigine" language mode, and experienced some sort of "cat got his tong

by fouc 6y ago

I can see that happening. For example he could've been mentally stuck in a "Australian aborigine" language mode, and experienced some sort of "cat got his tongue" situation where he temporarily couldn't even think or summon english to speak with. So until they started interacting and he was able to wake up those neural pathways then it would come back. So he probably somewhat felt like he was re-learning the language at an accelerated pace since he already had the neural wiring for english.

gibs0ns 6y ago
Do you know of, or can recommend, any studies on this "waking up the neural pathways" effect? I'm wondering what is happening here, surely it's more than simply firing those pathways as I'd imagine that to happen within seconds as opposed to the day or so it took him to recover. Thanks
- mantap 6y ago
  IANAN but I think "waking up neural pathways" can be understood to mean making new synaptic connections, a process that is not instant and could potentially take a day if the existing connections were intact.
  - sammorrowdrums 6y ago
    Often requiring sleep too I believe, with specific brain activity that simply doesn't occur while awake.
hanoz 6y ago
My English (my first and only natural language) definitely takes a while to recover from a single day spent programming, so I can definitely see that happening.
kwhitefoot 6y ago
> experienced some sort of "cat got his tongue" situation where he temporarily couldn't even think or summon english to speak with. Something like that happens to me sometimes. I get stuck for a word in Norwegian and suddenly find that I can't summon the English word either (English is my mother tongue but I have been living and working in Norway since '86). I am now capable of being tongue-tied in two languages simultaneously! But of course it all comes back to me quickly once I switch back to speaking only English.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  > I get stuck for a word in Norwegian and suddenly find that I can't summon the English word either (English is my mother tongue but I have been living and working in Norway since '86). Side note: this is one of many points sufficient to disprove the popular idea that words are the medium of thought. Thought is not linguistic.

by fouc 6y ago

gibs0ns 6y ago

Do you know of, or can recommend, any studies on this "waking up the neural pathways" effect? I'm wondering what is happening here, surely it's more than simply firing those pathways as I'd imagine that to happen within seconds as opposed to the day or so it took him to recover. Thanks

mantap 6y ago
IANAN but I think "waking up neural pathways" can be understood to mean making new synaptic connections, a process that is not instant and could potentially take a day if the existing connections were intact.
- sammorrowdrums 6y ago
  Often requiring sleep too I believe, with specific brain activity that simply doesn't occur while awake.

hanoz 6y ago

My English (my first and only natural language) definitely takes a while to recover from a single day spent programming, so I can definitely see that happening.

kwhitefoot 6y ago

> experienced some sort of "cat got his tongue" situation where he temporarily couldn't even think or summon english to speak with. Something like that happens to me sometimes. I get stuck for a word in Norwegian and suddenly find that I can't summon the English word either (English is my mother tongue but I have been living and working in Norway since '86). I am now capable of being tongue-tied in two languages simultaneously! But of course it all comes back to me quickly once I switch back to speaking only English.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
> I get stuck for a word in Norwegian and suddenly find that I can't summon the English word either (English is my mother tongue but I have been living and working in Norway since '86). Side note: this is one of many points sufficient to disprove the popular idea that words are the medium of thought. Thought is not linguistic.