[paigetheoracle]

Walking along a field trying to remember someones name today (John Carpenter, the film director), I realized that the mind deals with sentence structure by clicking through possibilities in word order and that this applies to grammatical endings too, unless it's not your first language or your not very good at it. Has anyone else noticed this fruit machine phenomena or is it just my weird mind/ observational ability?

[mynah]

Sounds like an interesting question, but not sure what you mean...By what steps did your mind arrive at the name?

[paigetheoracle]

Originally Posted by mynah

Sounds like an interesting question, but not sure what you mean...By what steps did your mind arrive at the name?

First it went to the general heading, director, then horror but the roulette bit started with remembering John but not surname, then Carpenter came up. Cutting it down even further - various Christian names jumped into my head, until I found the right one, then odd surnames until I hit the jackpot: It's like wheels in a fruit machine spinning round, until one comes up a winner and you recognize it as such, then it's followed by other names appearing with it until you have both and recognize the combination as being correct. Hope that clarifies it a bit.

[Tolouse]

oh yeah

but i think more like those Matrix symbols, except of going down, they scroll to the left

[paigetheoracle]

Originally Posted by Tolouse

oh yeah

but i think more like those Matrix symbols, except of going down, they scroll to the left

I'd agree for separate letters and it's interesting you say about scrolling to the left as mine scroll to the right but maybe that's because I'm right handed orcack handed!

[Essay]

Originally Posted by paigetheoracle

Has anyone else noticed this fruit machine phenomena or is it just my weird mind/ observational ability?

Fruit Machine?
Do mean a Slot Machine?

Roulette? Gambling problems?? LOL
Aside from the analogies (and the whole left/right thing); Yes, we can watch our brains perform.
*_*

I like to watch how our brain recovers from faults in our brain function.
In a recent phone conversation, neither of us could remember the name of that inventor/designer of the overly complicated, redundant mechanisms for performing mundane tasks.

First I had it narrowed down to a period in history and (vaguely) the kind of names one might categorize as immigrant scientists. I even recall a strong feeling that it was an Eastern European name.

Ten minutes later, when I finally remembered the name, I realized it was the "Rubik's Cube" that had made me feel so strongly that there was an E. European component/connection to the name (sound) I was trying to recall.

Sorry, I've left this somewhat vague (so you might re-live my experience); but if you didn't already know the answer (and Rubik's Cube history/origin), then this above would be totally obscure. Feel free to demand more, but....

I'll assume everyone did know the answer; and just ask if this scenario above does provide an insight into how some of the brain's "word" retrieval mechanisms operate.

It's similar to the dumb blonde JayWalker (NBC Tonight Show) who replied "Mecca," when asked for the name of the ship on which the Pilgrims came to America. "Mecca?" She explained that she had heard about a pilgrimage to Mecca. ....That was the only association her brain could find then, it seems.

...just one part of one of many mechanisms our brains employ....

[mynah]

I used to work for a magazine that had a name meaning "Red Roses" in English. (Know that sounds daft, but never mind...) We had a very high-strung assistant editor who'd go round and check how sales went at the shops. At one meeting she said, "Things are looking really bad - I went to the corner shop this morning, for instance, and the "Red Roses" were just lying there, untouched."

Some times later I had a dream that seemed inexplicably sad, as dreams sometimes are, unrelated to actual content. I dreamed of the corner shop we always visited as kids, years before. The area leading up to the entrance was knee-deep in red, long-stemmed roses. It took me a while to relate the dream to the remark, which I'd all but forgotten...

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Essay

Sorry, I've left this somewhat vague (so you might re-live my experience); but if you didn't already know the answer (and Rubik's Cube history/origin), then this above would be totally obscure. Feel free to demand more, but....

Rube Goldberg probably won't mind inasmuch as he's still dead. It popped in my head as soon as you described it, and then I laughed when I saw Rubic. Sounds like cherry.

The trying to remember a name thing is weird, and happens to me so often that as soon as I recognize I'm heading into a spin, I move on expecting it will pop into my head later, good & strong and when I probably no longer need it. When it does pop in, I shout it out spontaneously.


Reflecting on how my brain sorts this out, I'd say it's more like a pachinko game than a slot machine.

[mynah]

Not long ago my dad asked a secretary to connect him to her boss, "Mr Quayle".

She burst out laughing and said, "He IS a bird, but I suggest you call him Mr Finch."

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by mynah

Not long ago my dad asked a secretary to connect him to her boss, "Mr Quayle".

She burst out laughing and said, "He IS a bird, but I suggest you call him Mr Finch."

Guess what name pachinkoed into my head on reading that? WC Fields.