In doing my Chinese lessons, I have stumbled across a strange experience.
My desktop computer is in for repair, so I used my laptop to run the
teaching program. The laptop, it turns out, has a defect in its audio
system, which prevents me from turning off the feedback from a microphone
into the earphones. Not only that, the volume control doesn't work, so when
I speak directly into the mike, my ears get blasted.
I moved the mike enough to make the volume level tolerable, but then
the strange phenomenon occurred. I would click on the "record" icon and
start speaking, but the sound was so loud that it "drowned out" the
feelings from my mouth -- I seem to have a Universal Cross-Modality
Automatic Volume Control in my head. The result was that I felt I was
directly producing the sounds without any sense of the physical speech
efforts I was making.
This, I realized, is how speech would seem if it were _only_ a matter of
controlling the perceptions of speech sounds. Without the feelings of
articulation, there was a sense of producing the sounds by magic. I felt a
severe loss of confidence in being able to say what I intended to say,
although the sounds came out perfectly well. "How am I doing this?" I
wondered. It was as though just thinking the words made me hear them being
said.
I don't know if this will work for anyone else, but I'd appreciate hearing
the results if others try it. I used one of those cheap headset-mike
combinations that comes with some new computers. You'll need to play with
the sound control panel to allow you to hear your voice in the earphones as
you speak into the mike. Then turn up the sound level, not as high as you
can stand it but high enough to be pretty loud (this will work only with
earphones -- speakers would just squeal).
In doing my Chinese lessons, I have stumbled across a strange experience.
...
I moved the mike enough to make the volume level tolerable, but then
the strange phenomenon occurred. I would click on the "record" icon and
start speaking, but the sound was so loud that it "drowned out" the
feelings from my mouth -- I seem to have a Universal Cross-Modality
Automatic Volume Control in my head. The result was that I felt I was
directly producing the sounds without any sense of the physical speech
efforts I was making.
This, I realized, is how speech would seem if it were _only_ a matter of
controlling the perceptions of speech sounds. Without the feelings of
articulation, there was a sense of producing the sounds by magic
I think I've had a similar experience occasionally when I used to play music
with my country/folk music friends (in the old days when country music
people were still liberals like Johnny Cash;-)). I'd be singing away and I'd
hit a point where it was like there was just the sound of my voice (and
guitar); I had no sense of the means used to produce those sounds (including
the guitar sounds). As you say, it was like there was a direct, magical
connection between my intention and the corresponding perceptions. I
happended to like the experience; it was like Zen music making. Maybe it has
something to do with getting the reorganizing system out of the process. I
have no idea how that would work (model-wise) but it seems intuitively right.
[From Bruce Nevin (2003.09.18.1406 EDT)]
Probably these experiences have to do with attention. You’re no longer
aware of sensations that you’re controlling as means of
controlling the perceptions that you are aware of.
We do this all the time, for example in the course of talking without
being aware of the specific words we are saying (errors, pauses,
mispronunciations, and all), and in the course of working at a desk
without being aware of postural balance or pressure on the seat of the
pants.
In these cases, it is possible for us to turn our attention to something
that we had not been aware of. It sounds like you are saying that with
the high volume in the headphones you can’t be aware of the perceptions
that you are controlling in order to produce the sounds that you are
hearing. If that is so, it might tell us something interesting about
attention, distraction, etc.
Probably these experiences have to do with attention. You're no longer
aware of sensations that you're controlling as means of controlling the
perceptions that you are aware of.
I agree, it seems like being aware of a higher-order perception but not the
means by which I control it atg a lower order. It's hard to study this
phenomenon because the loudness quickly becomes less distracting and the
kinesthetic sensations are once again detectable.
We do this all the time, for example in the course of talking without
being aware of the specific words we are saying (errors, pauses,
mispronunciations, and all)
I agree that some people seem unaware of what they are actually saying, but
somehow I doubt that you spend much time in that state!
Attention is a phenomenon that really cries out for some investigation.