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Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
#1
Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
One day I was coming home for a doctor visit and was proceeding through an intersection near my home. This was the standard intersection, one lane each way with a left turn lane. The light was green for me so I went on through. Just as I got into the intersection a Jaguar made a left and we collided, left headlight to left headlight. 

The thing is, when I saw he was turning, and before we collided, I thought "Well, that's the end of this vehicle." Is there a term for that kind of speed thinking or is it just so mundane it's not worth it's own term?  I've experienced it before, most when I was being shot at.
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#2
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
Yes, I've experienced similar stuff but I don't know if there's a term for it. I doubt its an adrenalin rush, it wouldn't kick in that quick.
It's amazing 'science' always seems to 'find' whatever it is funded for, and never the oppsite. Drich.
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#3
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
That "sinking feeling"?
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#4
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
Do you mean when time seems to slow down around you and you experience every nano-second due to how your mind is processing the situation?
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
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#5
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
(September 27, 2017 at 8:05 am)Lutrinae Wrote: Do you mean when time seems to slow down around you and you experience every nano-second due to how your mind is processing the situation?

In that specific instance, no, but I have experienced the super slo-mo sensation before, again when the shit was hitting the fan. In the instance I cited above there was no chance of taking action to change things. My knee bashed the dash as it was transiting from pedal to brake. (The air bag system failed, something the guy who sold me the Blazer knew about but failed to have fixed despite it being a recall and therefore free.)
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#6
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
Why, that's omifuckinggod mode. That's the technical term.

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#7
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
(September 27, 2017 at 9:25 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Why, that's omifuckinggod mode. That's the technical term.
Not applicable to me.  Tongue
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#8
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
There is a term for it (I can't remember it atm, ironic), and no..it's not actually an adrenaline rush.  It's an issue of an overactive amygdala, a common human response to danger.   To simplify it, your brain is taking more notes when you think you're in trouble.  The time seems slow because it's relatively "full" of memories.  The conclusion of critical thought seems certain for the same.  The amusing bit, is that it's an illusion in retrospect.  Time doesn't actually slow down, and human beings don't exhibit enhanced critical abilities in crisis.  

Had it gone another way, you'd still have the then-and now retrospective effect of time slowing, but you would have been presented with an agonizing list of your failures in that regard (rather than a sense of enhanced competence).  People spend lifetimes broken over a second by second report in the memory of how they fucked up and plowed their family car into a post.

On the one hand, this little tick of mind is terrible, but on the other.......it expresses one of the most useful learning routines imaginable. Some disaster is occurring (minor or major) and you're dodging the debris. This would be a good time to make an exhaustive list of what worked. For better or worse, you're about to learn something of immense value..or..you know....die. The response itself is a work of art. Rather than crush itself under the weight of trivial memories, danger acts as a selection trigger for enhanced retention of information. It's not actually doing anything faster or better, just doubling up the reports it keeps about events that satisfy the selection condition.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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#9
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
I certainly believe that time did not slow down, that was never an issue for me.

" People spend lifetimes broken over a second by second report in the memory of how they fucked up and plowed their family car into a post." Don't suffer from that.
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#10
RE: Is there a term for this? Quick thinking in a crisis.
In a sense you do, is what I'm saying.  The same effect is at play in both scenarios, simply applied to different narratives.  The sense of making sharp, timely decisions in the now is part of the illusion.  Your memories are creating that sense of time distortion -and- competence retroactively, even in what you percieve as "the now", simply by providing more detail. It's not actually happening, or something that happened as reported. It's a detailed report of success, however. Had things gone a different way, you'd have a slow mo misery show on your hands. The amygdala is success indifferent, when it cranks up it cranks up - the difference is not in effect -or- ability, but in outcome.

(this was tested and controlled for by dropping people off a building, no shit, and I wish I was there that day, lelz.)

I'm familiar with the feeling, myself. We all are. It's a feature, not a bug...it's just not the feature it seems to be, that it reports as. Which I think is interesting in counter-intuitive way.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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