[net.ai] AIList Digest V2 #10

fc%USC-CSE@ECLA.ECLnet (02/02/84)

parallelism in the brain:
        Can you walk and chew gum at the same time?
                        Fred

crummer%AEROSPACE@sri-unix.UUCP (02/02/84)

From:  Charlie Crummer <crummer@AEROSPACE>

Re: Parallel Processing in the Brain

  There are several instances of people experiencing what can most easily
be explained as "tasking" in the brain. (an essay by Henri Poincare in "The
World of Mathematics", "The Seamless Web" by Stanley Burnshaw)  It appears
that the conscious mind is rather clumsy at creative work and in large measure
assigns tasks (in parallel) to the subconscious mind which operates in the
background.  When the background task is finished, an interrupt is generated
and the conscious mind becomes aware of the solution without knowing how the
problem was solved.

  --Charlie