Quick link between driving and scripted testing
I’ll admit I could be reaching a little far on this one. Even so, I think the relationship is there.
I’m in Oregon new helping my dad recover from a broken hip. While chasing someone out of his backyard, he jumped a fence and broke his hip upon landing. Though the circumstances of me being home are less than ideal, I was able to gain some insight while driving with him.
We went to the doctor’s office. Dad had to get his sutures taken out — for those who don’t know, metal stitches — and he led me there turn by turn. I didn’t think at all about where I was going, he just told me the way.
A week or so later, we went again, this time for a prescription refill. Dad was fully prepared to lead me there again, but unexpectedly after a couple turns, he received a phone call from an important person. Because his focus was elsewhere, I was on my own.
What I realized from these two driving trips was how related memory and attention are to cognitive engagement. Because there was no need for me to pay attention the first time (Why should I? I had Geeves in the passenger seat.) I had trouble getting there the second time. I did end up at the right place, but I had to rack brain for the slightest amount of recall.
And here’s where the possibly far-reaching transfer comes in: Geeves represents a very detailed manual test script. I don’t think, I just do exactly what it says. Driving directions a la Google, however, are more like a checklist: With Google, I have to pay attention to all the idiosyncrasies of driving not needed when there’s someone else leading me. Questions like, Have I gone too far? Have I not gone far enough? Where am I in relation to where I need to go? Did I make the right turn? — all unneeded questions when your only task is to “keep going straight until you’re told to turn again.” And again. And again. Now jump through the door.
Quick side note: A GPS device got me across country a year ago, although the only thing I remember is getting pulled over. 
Yes, the GPS got you across the country, BUT it was in my car.
So in this case, I would be the person in the example, and you would be the sheep/zombie following it. So, Why does everyone need to know where to go if they are all going to the same place. Does this happen in internet traffic? IP address work the same way as highways do. If you’re in Alaska and you need to get to Florida, you don’t care where in Florida you are going, you just care that you are going in the right general direction.
Wouldn’t we be able to make faster connections/computations if only the head/leading piece of information in a ‘group’ of information knew where to go? It would save on a couple of 1’s and 0’s.
Pretty good for a Biologist, eh?
[From Tim: Kevin, you've never been more right on the money.
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