Waiting in line at Dunkin Donuts, they were under-staffed, and the guy in front of me reached over to a display rack, took a bag of their coffee grounds, sniffed it, and put it back. I knew what he was doing, he was evaluating the smell.
As I passed from observing to understanding, what went through my mind was the feeling of myself reaching out to take the coffee bag and smell it. So (a) it feels like the ideas themselves are encoded in the muscle memory [a known concept]; and (b) it is the original imitation which forms the basis for memory and later ideas. Thus, imitation becomes a pillar of learning and a pillar of post-learning recognition.
No comments:
Post a Comment