This ever happened to you on a Long Ride ?

[rhody]

Since I am the PFNG guy on the FJR forum (thanks RM and BD, I do have a sense of humor) and almost every technical topic concerning the FJR has been beat to death, I thought I might turn attention to what is going on inside your noodle while on a long ride (desert, mountains, riding up the coast) after extended periods.

See link: Perception Test

After viewing the test, I am wondering if anyone else has had a similar response of losing track of the periphery, (and not at just high speed).

I find it amazing how much processing is going on inside your head that we take for granted... and how easily the mind integrates your perception of surroundings, blocking out what is not needed for survival.

Maybe that's where that transcendent feeling comes from after riding for hundreds of miles. I am sure other members have had similar experiences...

 

[FJRPierre]

That's probably why I go for miles and mile not noticing those flashing lights in my rear view mirrors

 

[Bounce]

Naw. it's because they hide behind your elbows. :haha:

 

[Fallen Jim Rides again]

Naw. it's because they hide behind your elbows.  :haha:

Hidden behind my elbows. Gotta remember that one. :haha:

 

[painman]

I think for me that feeling comes from not being surrounded by a cage while traveling, but on the bike you are "in" the enviornment and a part of your machine. The sights, smells and the purr of the engine just make it a relaxing state of mind that never grows old. Well, if I had to really explain, I guess you would'nt understand. Painman. <><

 

[jrd14]

That's cool !!! What do we not see while we are riding?

 

[ionbeam]

Whew, I was really afraid I was gonna get another Radman blinding. :shock:

What is scary is when you suddenly 'wake up' and discover you don't remember the last several miles, you can't locate where you are (beyond being on a motorcycle) or you know everything about an object or landscape feature but didn't notice the 18 wheeler that appeared on your rear wheel at some point... :blink: :dribble: [All this without the benefits(?) of drugs or alcohol.]

Alan

 

[Maddog]

Not to rain on your parade but the "perception test" and the experiences most have posted here are different phenomenon. The perception test is simply a demonstration that nerves get fatigued with repeated stimulation and they no longer "see" the dots. When you move your focus you are using different receptors that are not fatigued and you see the dots again. The loss of self-consciousness that some have described is often described as "flow." You've become so absorbed by the task at hand, that you lose common frames of reference (like time).

There is a psychologist that writes a column for MCN and he frequently mentions "flow" type of experiences reported by motorcyclists.

 

[FiveOon05]

Strange-- but I cant think of an instance where this would happen....even while "Bearing down" on a section of curves or whatever you should still be constantly aware of your enivronment...bike, road, cars, etc. Therefore unlikely that this would happen...for me anyway.

Fiveo

 

[ionbeam]

Not to rain on your parade but the "perception test" and the experiences most have posted here are different phenomenon. The perception test is simply a demonstration that nerves get fatigued with repeated stimulation and they no longer "see" the dots.

Geeze Maddog, go ahead and rain on everybody's parade. Next you'll be telling everyone there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny.

The little "perception test" works because the background is a neutral gray and the magenta dots actually switch between magenta and green, which are the negative colors of each other. Everyone has visual 'persistence' and after a while the persistence of magenta/green balance out on your retinas to the same neutral gray color as the background (a rods and cones thingie). I'm sure gr8eyes would have salient input here.

Well that kinda kills the poetry and romance of this thread

Alan

 

[freshmeat]

Not to rain on your parade but the "perception test" and the experiences most have posted here are different phenomenon. The perception test is simply a demonstration that nerves get fatigued with repeated stimulation and they no longer "see" the dots....

There is a psychologist that writes a column for MCN and he frequently mentions "flow" type of experiences reported by motorcyclists.

While it is true [that this specific experiment is a low-level neuron-fatigue phenomenon], the experiences people are mentioning general effect is probably more common than one would expect.

Strange-- but I cant think of an instance where this would happen....even while "Bearing down" on a section of curves or whatever you should still be constantly aware of your enivronment...bike, road, cars, etc. Therefore unlikely that this would happen...for me anyway.

Actually, it appears that the very process of "bearing down" may lead to a type of tunnel vision -- the increased focus on the things we expect to be important can make us 'blind' to the things we don't expect to be significant -- rather like the cager who 'expects' to see an 8 ft wide buick, so they don't see the guy on the bike. See this note (click) on Inattentional Blindness on Jeff Dean's (An MSF Chief Instructor) home page, . Think I'll stick to getting off, stretching my legs & relaxing the old noggin every hour or so... .

 

[kindofblue]

Back to the romance of the experience. I find riding the FJR through the curves similar to that of skiing in deep powder through the trees. I like to do both with jazz playing on my xm radio or mp3 player.

Both experiences are transcendent and envigorating!

 

[krashdragon]

hey, as many times as I try that, the pink dots disappear, and the green dot keeps running around the circle...!

However, as regards to not seeing things, there's at least one video I watched... says to count the number of time a person bounces a basketball...

Then asks what else the person viewing saw in that video... about half of the people said just the person bouning a basketball...However, a person dressed as an ape walks thru the background... I'll have to look for that link again...

Tried it on my neighbor... she never saw the "ape"...sh'e not a very good driver, either.

I've also driven (cage) at night asleep with my eyes open, for lack of a better term...I think my eyes were open... kinda just woke up and wondered how I drove thru a decent sized city and changed freeways without remembering it...

Mary aka Krashdragon

 

[gr8eyes]

There have been some very good responses to the question posed. I don't know if I will have any "salient input", as ionbeam suggests but I'll try. The test is not one of true perception. The fact that your eyes are staying fixed( on the center plus sign), doesn't imitate your gazing back and forth while riding your motorcycle. Also the background while riding is always changing, it is not homgenous like the gray background in the test.

The dot test then is purely a phenomena that happens electrophysiologically in the retina. The rods (black and white) structures in the retina,and cones(colored )structures in the retina, have cheimcals in them called photopsin and rhodopsin respectively. Millions of thesestructures are lined up in the retina. When we stare at something on a homogenous background the chemicals in the structures are depleted when stimulated by an object on a background. For example when you look at a light bulb on the ceiling for a few seconds then look away, all the chemical in the retina that coresponds to the light bulb gets "used up" so that when you glance away, instead of seeing the ceiling, you see the afterimage in gray, of the light bulb. If it was a red bulb you would see green, like the example above or if it was yello you would see a blue after image.

This all happens because the chemicals get used up or washed out. It takes a few seconds form them to regenerat again to where you can see that spot on the retina again.

Perception on the other hand is a cognitive thing. Its the way the brain takes in information the eyes are giving it. In riding the way you assimilate your peripheral vision is extremely important. Your peripheral vision is what gives you most of the clues as to what is going on around you.

Hope this muddied the water for you.

Glenn

 

[Grumpy]

Additionally, to a very large extent the peripheral vision determines where you "look" next with the central part of your vision.

 

[rhody]

Thanks for all those whole took time to read this topic and post. I am glad some of you took the time to take the perception test and post. I learned a lot more about the subject from a pure scientific perspective from your replies and PM's.

Would anyone like a post on quantum computers, and what makes them possible ? Please let me know through this thread.

 

[Silver Penguin]

That's probably why I go for miles and mile not noticing those flashing lights in my rear view mirrors

If you can see the flashing lights in your rear view mirrors, you can't be going fast enough.

<G> Jill