Cognitive something else

I mentioned loss of password in the postscript to the post at reference 1, a loss which prompted a discussion about loss of passwords in general over breakfast.

In the course of which I remembered the snippet which I now share, loosely linked to the post at reference 2. The snippet being the occasional loss of my bank PIN number, when I stand in front of the hole-in-the-wall, wondering rather blankly what on earth it might be. But then, my fingers approach the key pad and the brain remembers the motor commands needed to get the fingers to tap the numbers in - after which it remembers the numbers in word form that I can bring into consciousness in the ordinary way.

Perhaps something of the sort can happen to musicians with their body, their arms and hands, remembering the phrase to be played before they can bring it to mind.

PS: second snippet. I was rather struck yesterday by the following quote, from somewhere in 'Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience': "it is amateurs who have one big bright beautiful idea that they can never abandon. Professionals know that they have to produce theory after theory before they are likely to hit the jackpot - Francis Crick".

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/cheese-hunt.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/on-saying-cat.html.