Strange trance-like effect from repeating action?

May 19, 2012 4:37 PM

When I was younger, I sometimes used to amuse myself by repeating a simple action over and over again until I got into a strange state.

After concentrating on nothing but the action for a few minutes, I slowly forgot where I was or what I was doing there, and then there was an Inception-like effect where I would "wake up" over and over again. My thoughts went something like this: "Hmm, I've been doing this for a while... wait, I had this thought a few seconds ago! Wait, I had THAT thought a few seconds ago! Wait... etc." It felt like there was a recursive loop going on inside my head, and even though this "cascade" only lasted for a minute or so, it could feel like it was happening for hours. After that, my memories slowly came back to me.

From what I can tell, this effect is caused by my short term memory being "overwritten" by the repeating action. I haven't done this in a while because the last time I tried it, the cascade went on for much longer than usual, to the point where I feared I might have actually lost my short-term memory. (I couldn't remember where I was or what I was doing for about a minute -- it was scary!)

So what is this effect? Is it nothing more than a simple trance? Or is it something else?

(I'm asking because I love discovering that the stuff that really mystified me as a kid has a name, and that others have experienced it too!)

posted by archagon to Science & Nature (12 answers total)

Response by poster: By the way, the actions had to repeat exactly and usually had a sound. For example: rocking in a rocking chair, listening to the shower, etc.
posted by archagon at 4:38 PM on May 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Do you think it's a form of stereotypy?
posted by Yma at 4:58 PM on May 19, 2012

I'll just say when I was young I used to do exactly this, and it'd totally freak me out and I would feel like reality was slipping away and then I'd shake myself out of it. I used to draw designs in the shag carpet with my finger, or twirl a shoelace, or swing my leg. Stuff like that. Repetitive actions, for many minutes at a time.

I haven't had any experience like that in a couple decades, I'd say -- it just sort of faded away. (Also, I'm busy! And not a bored ten year-old anymore!) So this is just to say you are not alone or weird (or weirder than me)!
posted by incessant at 5:06 PM on May 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

In some contexts this is called "stimming," from "self-stimulation." This term focuses on the effect of the activity, rather than the activity itself. Some people get mesmerized by performing a repetitive motion, like rocking. Others get off on watching something move (like spinning wheels or a rubber ball bouncing) or listening to a repetitive noise of some kind. My own stim is tossing a pencil up and down mindlessly.

I wouldn't describe it as "losing your short-term memory." It's an intense meditative state in which your concentrated attention blocks out external stimuli. There isn't much about it in the neuroscience literature (since moving humans are hard to study using brain imaging), but there's lots and lots on this topic from a purely descriptive perspective in child clinical psychology and such.
posted by Nomyte at 5:28 PM on May 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I had the same experience... although for me it would be fixating on an object with my gaze (like an electrical outlet) and then repeating a word or phrase until in became nonsensical. It was also frightening at times for me... and it could take a while before I actually felt like I was "back" in my body. Thanks for asking the question... I'm also interested in the answers.
posted by kimdog at 5:44 PM on May 19, 2012

I will add to the chorus here and tell you that I did this as well when I was a child, in those blessed years before I discovered drugs.
It seems, upon reflection, that it was just an "intense meditative state", as Nomyte said, sort of like what I imagine whirling dervishes experience during their ritual dances.
posted by Alonzo T. Calm at 7:03 PM on May 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I bought the Hare Krishna album in 1968 and John Lennon and I listened to it. I remember we sang the Hare Krishna mantra for days, John and I, with ukulele banjos, sailing through the Greek Islands chanting. Like six hours we sang, because we couldn't stop chanting once we got going. As soon as we stopped chanting, it was like the lights went out. It went on to the point where our jaws were aching, singing the Hare Krishna mantra over and over and over and over and over. We felt exalted; it was a very happy time for us.

George Harrison

Chanting sounds similar to me.
posted by xammerboy at 10:02 PM on May 19, 2012

Your description actually sounds much like the temporal lobe epilepsy I had as a kid... Probably not the same thing, but interesting that the experiences sound alike.
posted by madred at 10:15 PM on May 19, 2012

I think everyone does this to some extent. I know I do with regards to playing guitar, writing, and drug use. Anatman. A doctrine of emptiness. Self-forgetting. Pretty common, just nobody likes to talk about it.
posted by Bachsir at 1:04 PM on May 20, 2012

Sounds a bit like flow state.
posted by high5ths at 6:10 PM on May 20, 2012

I used to rock back and forth on the edge of my bed for hours, and experienced similar mental slips. But as an adult I've heard that when children do that, it can be a sign of depression. Depression certainly fit with my circumstances and feelings at the time. So if your experiences were accompanied by sad emotions, maybe that?
posted by pickingupsticks at 9:31 PM on May 20, 2012

archagon: "and then there was an Inception-like effect where I would "wake up" over and over again."

archagon: "even though this "cascade" only lasted for a minute or so, it could feel like it was happening for hours."

This sounds exactly like what happens when I'm in sleep paralysis. I throw the blanket off... oh wait, I'm still covered up. So I throw it off... but wait, there it is again, let me throw it off...
posted by IndigoRain at 8:51 AM on May 21, 2012