Centipede Effect Centipede Syndrome

Centipede's Dilemma

    A centipede was happy – quite!
    Until a toad in fun
    Said, "Pray, which leg moves after which?"
    This raised her doubts to such a pitch,
    She fell exhausted in the ditch
 
1/ The centipede performs an extremely complex action by coordinating all its legs in the action of movement.

2/ The centipede does not know how it coordinates all its legs, it does not think about it while doing it, but performs the task through habit.

3/ When called upon to think about and discuss how it performs the task, the centipede realises it does not know, becomes confused, and can no longer perform the task.

Habit diminishes and then eliminates the attention required for routine tasks, but this is automatically disrupted by attention to a normally unconscious competence.

In other words:

1/ You have learned through habit to perform what might be a somewhat difficult task without thinking about it. 

2/ You are then called upon to consider and think about how you perform the task. 

3/ By thinking about how you perform the task you can no longer perform it out of habit and you are then unable to perform it.

On the conscious competence learning steps model the performance of a task out of habit is one done with unconscious competence. 

The problem is that an explanation or understanding of the skills or mechanism for performing the task has been forgotten so that when someone is called upon to think about or explain how the task is performed they cannot do so and are then unable to perform the task through habit, being thrust into a state of conscious incompetence.

Adolf Busch forgets how to play a complicated phrase when asked

An example of the centipede effect / centipede syndrome is told through the anecdote involving the violinist Adolf Busch who was asked by fellow-violinist Bronislaw Huberman how he played a certain passage of Beethoven's violin concerto. Busch told Huberman that it was quite simple—and then found that he could no longer play the passage, for that moment he could only play it without thinking about it within the concerto as a whole.

Tsundoku reading pile japanese

Tsundoku: Japanese for leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other unread books. Illustration by Ella Frances Sanders from 'Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World.'

Tsundoku: Literally = Reading Pile

Portland Aerated Waters

Willabaa Ballarat Australia

Willabaa Pure New Wool Ballarat Australia

 

 

29 Russell St Abbotsford Melbourne Victoria

 

 

 

 

Nauru House Melbourne Australia 1977

Nauru House iconic Melbourne skyscraper tallest building in Melbourne upon its completion in 1977 until surpassed by the Regent Hotel (now Sofitel Melbourne) in 1981.

 

 

 

 

 

Music video of Melbourne boy band CDB pay homage to Nauru House in their "Let's Groove Tonight" 1995 cover

Decidophobia Fear of Making Decisions

Decidophobia 

Life is full of options and choices, each changing the way we decide to live our lives. Making these decisions requires an internal thought process that weighs out the positive and negative aspects of each choice. For some, this process can be absolutely terrifying and the fear of making the wrong choice will ultimately cause them to avoid making any choice at all. This fear of decision-making is called Decidophobia and could ultimately lead to an unhealthy dependence on others or unpractical methods of guidance and, subsequently, a total lack of control over the direction that their life will take.

Decidophobia can can be understood as a specific phobia which is actually not as uncommon as might be assumed. 

Learning theory views phobias such as decidophobia as learned responses. A person avoids the phobic object. making a decision, and through this obtains the reward of escaping or avoiding fear. Maybe the person is fearful of the consequences of an incorrect decision or perhaps just being fearful of having the burden of responsibility of making decisions.

"Indecision can have a really negative impact on how you’re feeling, so good decision making skills are really useful when you’re faced with a tough choice. Get tips on how to make good decisions, and find out what to do when you can’t figure out a plan."

http://au.reachout.com/all-about-making-decisions

Assortative Mating

Assortative mating is a nonrandom mating pattern in which individuals with similar genotypes and/or phenotypes mate with one another more frequently than would be expected under a random mating pattern.

Paige de Vanny Artist Melbourne

A couple of remarkable portraits from young Melbourne Australia artist Paige de Vanny from her exhibition at Hogan Gallery Smith St Collingwood