As a student of psychology, I have a particular interest in neuroscience. I continue being very intrigued that, as I think, my brain "moves". That a single cell can "jump for joy" upon getting activated by a particular thought, is something I cannot easily forget. Unless of course, my brain cells stop getting activated, and I forget.
Anyway, even more exciting than reading about neuroscience is having personal experiences of strange neurological phenomena. I recently had two of these occur, and as is good research practice, I shall hereby note these down. I shall call the first phenomenon: "What English shall I wear today?", and the second shall be called: "Carrying dead weight".
#1 What English Shall I Wear Today?
The other night, as I was exhausted from another day of speaking English, I had what almost felt like an epiphany. Suddenly, I had words to describe what speaking English felt like. I realized that speaking English feels remarkably similar to wearing clothes. Now, that is a strange comparison (hence the title of this post). But, speaking English feels exactly like wearing clothes. Now, as there are many types of clothing, there are also many types of English. There is the formal English, that I use for work, and when I meet new people. There is the English that I speak with friends, who speak the local dialect. This is a bit more casual, and I can wear it comfortably for longer than the formal English. However, there are even more comfortable levels of English. There is the English that I speak with friends who have their mother tongue somewhere in Europe, which makes it even more comfortable. And then, finally, there is the English that I speak at home. Now, some days this English is barely English. Rags, I think is a good description. But oh! It is so comfortable that I can wear this English all pretty much all day. Remarkably, my mother tongue feels nothing like wearing clothes at all, but simply part of who I am. Strange aye!
#2 Carrying Dead Weight
I became aware of the second phenomena the other day, just after speaking with my brother back home for a little while. He asked me: "Little sister, have you forgotten your mother tongue?".. Oh no! It is just not very well trained at the moment, I could reassure him. However, this experience, made me realize a strange fact. That for most of the time, I am not speaking Norwegian, or even thinking about the things that happen in Norway, or smelling Norway, or using my knowledge about Norway... etc. All these Norwegian-neurons have absolutely nothing to do all day, and must be getting rather fat and under-exercised "up there". The conversation in Norwegian suddenly stimulated gigantic amounts of dead brain weight. To describe this experience, I picture the following scenario: I picture a very inactive army base (the brain cell base), which had it's last big assignment more than a year ago. Now, when the red light flashed suddenly in the barracks, calling all brain cells to report, they were so unfit that the old saying rang true: "Mouth was in motion without brain being in gear!"
