# Thinking and how it works

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 21, 2002, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196 "2002-12-21T06:42:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![shea241](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@shea241](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shea241)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196/1 "2002-12-21T06:42:50Z")

</div>

The other day I was bored and I started wandering off thinking of diffrent things and when I snaped out of my daydreams I wonderded to myself how many things could I think of at once at the **same** time. So after a while I managed to think of two separate things at the same time. What I did was I imagined myself doing chores and almost like a split screen I thought of math (like you would on a sheet of paper). The math part was takeing two random numbers that I would think of while I was also imagining myself continuing my chores and add them together. what I was wondering was. Am I accually “multitasking” my brain or is my brain just doing things in order and I don’t notice it??

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196/2 "2002-12-21T06:55:42Z")

</div>

That is curious. I wonder if it is a right brain/left brain thing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196/3 "2002-12-21T07:51:13Z")

</div>

Many people think ahead while they are talking. Would that be the same thing?  
What about when you are thinking, and another “voice” interrupts and play contra with the thoughts?

“I should say I am horny. Are you nuts, they will slap you in the face.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ravage2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ravage2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ravage2)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196/4 "2002-12-21T15:57:08Z")

</div>

Actually your brain is doing millions of things at any given instant. Its just that you’re concious of (usually) one thing at a time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aka\_10003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@aka\_10003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aka_10003)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196/5 "2002-12-21T17:27:32Z")

</div>

Actually, multitasking often just seems to be “at the same time.”

The chores are sharing resources, but only one task is being processed and the others are on hold, waiting their turn. To our limited senses, it seems concurrent. (Think of a film where individual frames suddenly suggest continuous movement.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Armoryk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@Armoryk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Armoryk)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-and-how-it-works/144196/6 "2002-12-21T17:38:01Z")

</div>

I know this is the longest possible answer to your question, but you might want to take a look at the book “How the Mind Works” by Steven Pinker. (It’s about 600pp, so that makes this a long answer)