Heart and Mind

Stopgo: Red & Green on the Brain

On the way home from work today I came upon a traffic light that was lit both green and red simultaneously. It wasn't some kind of blinking thing, it was simply solid green and solid red at all times.

So it was obviously broken, and that's nothing too noteworthy because things break all the time.

However, it did make my brain feel like it was going to explode and my nervous system started bucking a little bit like a standard-transmission car does when it's stuck in the wrong gear.

You see, we are absolutely conditioned to stop on red and go on green. That traffic light stuff is not even a though process. It's like an automated program in our brains. That's why we can be driving down the road at a swift pace, listening to the radio, and completely preoccupied with our day at work or some other troubling issue in our lives and still react instantly when that green light turns yellow. We immediately swing our foot to the break and start anticipating the stop. It's fully automated, indeed.

And that is precisely why it screws with your head and body when the light is both green and red. I had no idea what was going on, as I wasn't even thinking about it. But my brain was caught in the push and pull: "It's green so I go and it's red so I stop. The command is to stopgo." How does the brain issue a command to stop and go at the same time? It doesn't. It's like throwing in a zero in a spreadsheet field that is pulled to be the denominator in a division calculation. "#ERROR: DIV by 0" All it can do is spit out that error message.

Eventually, my conscious brain had to step in and override the automated-brain-problem with a little bit of reasoning: "Calm down, brain. The light's broken. Slow down the vehicle and look carefully and then proceed if it won't cause an accident."

This brain stuff is fascinating. It's similar to when you confidently and enthusiastically nod "yes" but speak the words, "No! Absolutely not under any conditions!" Or shake your head no with a look of disgust and say, "Yes! By all means!" That messes you up, too! It's hard to do! It doesn't come naturally and takes a little practice, almost like rubbing your stomach and patting your head. If you've never done it...try it. Try it today. Try it now. You'll feel that psycho-tension that I'm talking about.

posted by Steve @ 10:24 PM