Click and Time

Click and Time
Andre Willers
22 Feb 2010

"Time is the Simplest Thing" Clifford Simak
"So much to do , so little time." Cecil Rhodes
"Ask me anything except time ." Napoleon Bonaparte

Synopsis :
What separates the Tick from the Tock is an interval 13 to 30 milliseconds long .

Discussion :
See NewScientist 24 Oct 2009 p32 " The time machine inside your head"
See also previous posts on timing and assembling of sensoriums.

The significance:
The brain processes experiences in bundles about 13 to 30 milliseconds long .
If a datum is in bundle(1) , it is processed as being before data in bundle(2) .
The sensorium smooths it out so the data seems continuous .

Why the spread ?
Because the brains perception of time can speed up or slow down .

Easiest explained by a technique on how to do it .
John Weardon , an experimental psychologist at Keele University in UK , simply entrained subjects by making them listen to 10 seconds of fast clicks at 5 per second .
This resulted in an improvement of performance in tasks involving the CNS of between 10-20 percent . Very significant in competitive situations .(See "Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology" )
White noise had no similar effect .

What is going on ?
Even such a short entrainment squeezes the brain's handling of data into 1000/5=200 milliseconds brackets . Smaller than normal . The individual perceives time to be passing slower than normal , so other mental processes can take place .
The smallest boundary seems to 13 milliseconds , but boundaries up to 30 millisecs seem innate .
But this has to trained . The natural beat seems to be heartbeat . Once a second . The human system seems to hate expending more energy in time-binding than necessary . This leads us to suspect that 1/3 of 1000 millisecs =333 millisecs is a natural upper boundary for the necessary housekeeping tasks .
This is an awfully long time compared the minimum required .

Everybody has experienced this .
In a crisis , you can think faster .
Actually , your CNS is just processing time-bundles in smaller quanta .
Like a movie running in slower motion by snap-shotting at smaller intervals .

And , you can do it at will . But there is a price to pay in terms of neuro-transmitter fatigue .

Click .
Can one click the tongue at 5 times a second ?
Yes . The reflex speed of humans is roughly 1/10 of a second . Plenty of room .


"RRRRR" sound .
This is a very fast fibrillation (muted click) of the tongue . The slowest an individual "R" seems to be about 1 per second (I timed it) . 5 per second can be done in bursts .
So , 10 bursts of "RRRRR" should improve your sports performance in tennis ,hockey , golf etc by about 10-20 percent .

Schizophrenics :
A good portion (at least 1/3) of the brains various systems are devoted simply to keep the sensorium reasonably on track . If data get slotted into the wrong time-frames , it appears to the individual as if external forces control reality , or that he is powerless .

This has actually been duplicated by experiments with video games . A 200 millisec delay was set into a flight game . The brain learned to compensate . When the delay was removed , the brain perceived that the plane was being moved without perception of intent-to-move by the player . A typical schizophrenic experience . (Psychological Science ,vol 12,p532) .

Actual Reflex Speed :
I doubt if a knee-jerk type of reaction speed will be faster . But any signal that has to be processed or can be influenced by the CNS will be slowed down by the timing mechanism . And can be speeded up relative to competitors .

How fast are they really ?
There is no formal training in shortening the quantal data handling capability . There is a lot of anecdotal evidence in the unarmed combat sphere , after decades of training

But we can do it in 10 seconds . Literally .
Ten bursts of "RRRRR" sounds should reprogram your tiny little brain to process data at about 10-20 percent faster than your opponent who doesn't .

It is amusing to note that ethnic groups that have lots of rolling RRRRR's in their language (like the Russians and the French) fare better in sports like tennis.

Please note various war cries like the New Zealand "Haka" . It actually enhances performance significantly .

The inverse .
We should be able to stretch the personal time . This would definitely have an impact on sports like long-distance running . Hampering of running process (a-la-Noakes) would be lessened .

If you can't roar, purr .

Andre.