Often while I’m reading, my mind will wander from the text at hand and I’ll end up thinking about something else. But I never stop reading, which strikes me as a bit strange. I usually have to go back over the section I just read but didn’t pay attention to.
It’s almost like a train that reaches a split in the tracks. Instead of continuing along just one track, some sort of freaky parallel dimension opens and the train is able to travel along both tracks. But only one train continues to carry the conductor.
I was reading an article on autism tonight, and this happened. But rather than just snap myself back into the reading material, as I typically do, I started to ponder what was going on — probably because I was reading something about how the brain works. And then I started to think it was something I could write about on my blog, so in my mind I started to form what to write. And suddenly I was another full paragraph further along in the story.
Immediately following these episodes, I’m conscious of the fact that I have read every single word of a section of text, despite the fact that nothing has sunk in to my brain. And I wonder, why do I continue reading? Why not just stop to think about something else? Is the information I’m reading but not remembering going somewhere in my brain — perhaps to a place I’m just not able to access? Are there people who are able to do this — have a completely separate track of thoughts while reading — but who remember everything they’ve read?
Um, okay. Back to my autism article…
4 thoughts on “Questions About A Wandering Mind”
Comments are closed.
The same thing happens to me, but only when I’m really tired. Sometimes I even turn pages without realizing the words aren’t sinking in.
Another failure mode is where I read the same sentence over and over and over and over and over…
I have had this happen to me too and I don’t really remember anything that I have just “read”. But really, Mike… some fresh air might be in order. All that reading about autism is screwing with your head. ;-)
It happens to me as well.
I like to think I’ve retained the information somewhere… but I suspect that as that particular nural pathway gets worked in more and more, it just becomes easier to drift away.
Maybe it’s like the same brain impulses we use to walk and think simultainiously?
That happens to me all the time. Not only do I digest everything I read into my own terms (it’s a learning tool for me), but I tend to digress every time a point is made. I usually retain the jist of it, but I’d be hard pushed to repeat what I’d just read on the spot.