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I honestly disagree with every possible interpretation of this article. The amount of work you can do in a unit of time is highly variable: for example, going i

by tibbar 6y ago

I honestly disagree with every possible interpretation of this article. The amount of work you can do in a unit of time is highly variable: for example, going into a flow state can increase my output by multiples. And your day-to-day cognitive performance can vary enormously as well (I used to play chess for hours every day for example, and some days I was just _better_ than other days. Consistently. In fact, I could even peg it to specific days of the week.) I rarely drink coffee, but when I do it can be like going into another state of consciousness. There is a productivity curve where if I press too hard or for too long my net output and decision making eventually gets worse, but it's a curve, not a flat line.

burnte 6y ago
You're correct, the article is fundamentally flawed. Your thinking speed is not fixed. A person may not have full control over it, but it is far from fixed.
- Terretta 6y ago
  While it’s arguably perception rather than thinking, experiments purport to show time dilation for race car drivers, pro athletes, gamers, or normals in accidents, allowing the person to self perceive as acting/reacting in a kind of Neo from Matrix slo mo in extremis. Furthermore, we showed a reduction of perceived frequency for flickering stimuli and an enhanced detection of rapidly presented letters during action preparation, suggesting increased temporal resolution of visual perception during action preparation. We propose that the temporal dilation during action preparation reflects the function of the brain to maximize the capacity of sensory information-acquisition prior to execution of a ballistic movement. This strategy might facilitate changing or inhibiting the planned action in response to last-minute changes in the external environment. "Our guess is that during the motor preparation, visual information processing in the brain is enhanced. So, maybe, the amount of information coming in is increased. That makes time be perceived longer and slower." https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2012.1339 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2012.133... It seems less likely that time is slowing for them than that their perceived processing frame rate spiked on demand to handle important (life threat?) detail: These results are in line with the third-person perspective studies on the effect of movement on time. That is, the faster the speed of the car in the video, the more context changes were perceived in the video, aligning nicely with the hypothesis that the number of visual changes drives temporal dilation effects. Although tested in a different context, this explanation find corroborative support in a study (Antonson et al., 2009) on the effect of landscapes on preferred speed in car simulators, with landscapes richer in details (i.e., forests compared to open spaces) associated with slower preferred speeds. Although this effect is typically explained by other, higher-level factors, our study suggests that the rich detail landscapes might cause internal time to run faster due to the higher number of changes, causing participants to drive slower to keep their subjective speed at comfortable levels. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82851715.pdf https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82851715.pdf
nostrademons 6y ago
How much of that is because in your non-flow states, you're thinking about something else. For me, flow is super productive because I'm concentrating only on the task at hand. I may have a thought every couple seconds or so, but if I'm coding in flow, each thought is a new line of code. If I'm playing Civ, each thought is a new move or new building purchased. If I'm not in flow, there's a good chance that that thought is about the HN story that's sitting on the tab in the background. Or wondering if anyone replied to my comment. Or thinking about how I need to pick up my kid in an hour. Or fretting that I'll never finish my project and I'm going to get fired. This is also consistent with the effects of coffee and other stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall. These work by boosting attention: they increase dopamine and norepinephrine production within the prefrontal cortex, which is the area of the brain that gives us conscious control over our thoughts.
- tibbar 6y ago
  Exactly, this is pretty much the definition of flow. It amplifies productivity on the task at hand, which seems to be one of the things the OP claims is impossible. On the other hand, even if the article is taking the banal position that your IQ doesn't change, this also seems false - your day to day cognitive ability does vary (even if the average level is stable).
  - ZephyrBlu 6y ago
    > It amplifies productivity on the task at hand, which seems to be one of the things the OP claims is impossible This is not what the previous commenter said. They said flow allows you to focus on a single task. This is not productivity amplification, it's improved time/focus/energy allocation.

by tibbar 6y ago

burnte 6y ago

You're correct, the article is fundamentally flawed. Your thinking speed is not fixed. A person may not have full control over it, but it is far from fixed.

Terretta 6y ago
While it’s arguably perception rather than thinking, experiments purport to show time dilation for race car drivers, pro athletes, gamers, or normals in accidents, allowing the person to self perceive as acting/reacting in a kind of Neo from Matrix slo mo in extremis. Furthermore, we showed a reduction of perceived frequency for flickering stimuli and an enhanced detection of rapidly presented letters during action preparation, suggesting increased temporal resolution of visual perception during action preparation. We propose that the temporal dilation during action preparation reflects the function of the brain to maximize the capacity of sensory information-acquisition prior to execution of a ballistic movement. This strategy might facilitate changing or inhibiting the planned action in response to last-minute changes in the external environment. "Our guess is that during the motor preparation, visual information processing in the brain is enhanced. So, maybe, the amount of information coming in is increased. That makes time be perceived longer and slower." https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2012.1339 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2012.133... It seems less likely that time is slowing for them than that their perceived processing frame rate spiked on demand to handle important (life threat?) detail: These results are in line with the third-person perspective studies on the effect of movement on time. That is, the faster the speed of the car in the video, the more context changes were perceived in the video, aligning nicely with the hypothesis that the number of visual changes drives temporal dilation effects. Although tested in a different context, this explanation find corroborative support in a study (Antonson et al., 2009) on the effect of landscapes on preferred speed in car simulators, with landscapes richer in details (i.e., forests compared to open spaces) associated with slower preferred speeds. Although this effect is typically explained by other, higher-level factors, our study suggests that the rich detail landscapes might cause internal time to run faster due to the higher number of changes, causing participants to drive slower to keep their subjective speed at comfortable levels. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82851715.pdf https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82851715.pdf

nostrademons 6y ago

How much of that is because in your non-flow states, you're thinking about something else. For me, flow is super productive because I'm concentrating only on the task at hand. I may have a thought every couple seconds or so, but if I'm coding in flow, each thought is a new line of code. If I'm playing Civ, each thought is a new move or new building purchased. If I'm not in flow, there's a good chance that that thought is about the HN story that's sitting on the tab in the background. Or wondering if anyone replied to my comment. Or thinking about how I need to pick up my kid in an hour. Or fretting that I'll never finish my project and I'm going to get fired. This is also consistent with the effects of coffee and other stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall. These work by boosting attention: they increase dopamine and norepinephrine production within the prefrontal cortex, which is the area of the brain that gives us conscious control over our thoughts.

tibbar 6y ago
Exactly, this is pretty much the definition of flow. It amplifies productivity on the task at hand, which seems to be one of the things the OP claims is impossible. On the other hand, even if the article is taking the banal position that your IQ doesn't change, this also seems false - your day to day cognitive ability does vary (even if the average level is stable).
- ZephyrBlu 6y ago
  > It amplifies productivity on the task at hand, which seems to be one of the things the OP claims is impossible This is not what the previous commenter said. They said flow allows you to focus on a single task. This is not productivity amplification, it's improved time/focus/energy allocation.