My dog and I were thinking the other day that one of the main keys to expertise, apart from constant practice, is mental modelling.
He's a choc labrador, in case you were wondering, but anyway a while back I found that giving a successful anaesthetic, as one used to do in order to keep the wolf from the door (no offence, Coco) involved not just careful planning, but visualising in detail the sequence of events as the procedure proceeded. Then one would preview what might happen and what one might do, and in this way collage together a workable scenario, some of which was based on pre-op tests and prior knowledge of physiological science and years of experience, and some was "black box" (ie you know what goes in and you know what comes out, but **** knows what happens in between) - and this mental model was then played in parallel with the actual events, and from time to frequent time a comparison was made between a frame of the model and a frame of reality, with the model being adjusted or amended.
I suppose you thought anaesthetists did bugger all but sit about reading the Financial Times while taking surreptitious sniffs of the volatile agents, but anyhow after a few years of this Theory I realised I was doing exactly the same thing when playing the guitar in a wee jazz band, "playing" to be more accurate, the process involving being aware of where the harmony was (purely thanks to the bassist, otherwise I would have had no clue), improvising something 'somewhere in the brains', sticking that something in some kind of buffer, and while that was getting played by the hands, thinking of another 2 bars worth. Nothing fantooosh about this, footballers do it all the time, only with their feet.
So mental modelling, if you're still paying attention, is a key feature of human expertise, and the signs are that this may apply to dogs also. Contemporaneous accounts indicate that people like da Vinci and can't remember, think it was Robert Hooke (somewhere in Aubrey's Brief Lives) spent a lot of time in an extreme dwam or Brown Study, and my Theory is that they were Mentally Modelling. Which brings me back to Coco, because as he says, why should the greats have all the fun, we can read their blogs and rip off their techniques.
Ooops, sorry. The Meaning of Meaningfulness, I'm just coming to that in a wee while.
Meantime, Happy Theorising!
I love that 'extreme dwam or Brown study'!! You're genius min!
ReplyDeleteAnd I adore Coco - pity I'm allergic to dogs and cats.
ReplyDeleteFootballers play guitars with their feet? I never knew that. No wonder they get paid so much.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Beautiful Tune.
ReplyDeleteyour dog is amazing. I was just going to ask if it was a lab. I have a rottie. :) Thank you for such a lovely comment on my blog about the story. appreciate it a lot.
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you! will keep an eye on your writing.
Thanks very much! Look out for The Floogle Mystery!
ReplyDeleteDrDx
Mental modelling encompasses abilities which we all possess to a greater or lesser degree. Musicians with highly developed aural skills have the ability to hear and play music in the brain, rather like having an inbuilt player. This can be developed further to include improvisation, composition and so forth. When playing an instrument or singing it is common practice to be hearing a few bars ahead, as you say. The key is concentration. Without the ability to concentrate in any useful way one will not be able to use or develop this skill, which as you outline is applied in other fields of endeavour.
ReplyDeleteAnd then we have muscle memory ....
Contrary to Dr Dx's assertion that the reading matter of choice of the anaesthetist is the FT, I have it on good authority that Oor Wullie comes top of the list of preferred erudition, with The Broons coming a close second. The FT does not get a mention.
ReplyDeleteFT is only a cover so the surgeon doesn't realise it's the Sunday Post....
ReplyDelete