[CupcakeDolly]

Well, I mean... that's pretty much our main function as cat owners, isn't it?

[Tiva]

Yep it is, and to clean out the little box. Which reminds me, I made a new litter box cabinet last week. It is awesome.

[CupcakeDolly]

You made it?? That is pretty damn impressive! =o

[Tas]

I started a new game and it spawned me right on top of a rock! >.<

also the abundance of rocks and trees in this game reminds me of Canada's national anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxTpIMK5NSo

[CupcakeDolly]

I hate the stupid rocks. Especially the stupid tiny rocks you think you can get around easily, but then you barely brush them and they're like, 'slooooow dooooown!'

[Tohopekaliga]

Hehe. Dastardly little things, aren't they?

[Tiva]

I spawn ontop of trees and rocks all of the time…. just the luck of the draw I guess.

I DIYed it, got a cabinet for 20 bucks at a yard sale cut a hole at the bottom and took out the shelf. Then I sanded it and stained it before putting on some cool new knobs. I also put a LED touch light in it so the cat can see. Once I am sure he is all good with it I am gonna make a curtain for the hole so you can't see anything. I am so proud of it though, and the in progress one is going to be a window seat with lift up top to I can store the litter.

[CupcakeDolly]

...My cat ignores the litter box and just dumps on the floor. ._.

[Tiva]

I would kill him… but then I would be sad. Artemis walks on a leash though and drinks out of the toilet no matter how many fancy water dishes I get him. Every cat has their thing.

[CupcakeDolly]

This keeps happening.

[Coda]

Catbutt. Typical.

Originally Posted by Espy

Hm, yeah, so this would suggest your eyes are constantly moving/twitching down while playing. -headscratching- I mean, I see how that works, but that does sound less plausible.....huh. It could definitely be an unconscious thing?

It's EXTREMELY unconscious -- and in fact it doesn't directly have anything to do with eye movement, but with how your brain processes input.

Animal brains are tuned to filter out things that are constant. This is why you stop noticing how cold water is after a while, and smells fade into the background, and you can tune out background noise but still react when someone says your name.

This happens for vision, too. When things are still, they don't command particularly much attention, but if something suddenly starts moving, you instantly become aware of it.

This filtering process allows us to focus our attention and not worry about having to process all of the sensory input that our brains are receiving. We can work with the important stuff we perceive instead of getting overloaded by absolutely everything happening around us. (There are various disorders that interfere with this process -- ADHD is one of them; the reason ADHD sufferers have difficulty focusing is because this filtering doesn't do a good enough job and things that most people could ignore instead get flagged by your subconscious as needing to be addressed.)

But vision is the primary sensory input for humans. When this shortcut in the brain doesn't jive with what we consciously understand reality is supposed to be like, we NOTICE.

So in this case, your nervous system has gotten centered not around the trees moving upward, but on the sled moving downward against what we understand is an unmoving background of trees despite our eyes saying the sled is stationary and the trees are moving. Your brain has made the association "things that are currently fixed in my field of vision are moving downward relative to my background reference."

But not only is the SLED moving downward against this perceived background, the rest of the screen is too! So when the trees and the sled are gone, everything else is still not moving upward in your field of vision, and so you perceive it as going downward.

Eventually your brain figures out that this isn't the way the world works and things straighten out, but in between, you experience that visual illusion.

[Lucid:]

That catbutt is basically how you know your cat truly loves you.

[Den]

What Coda described, with the subconscious filter not working as well for people with ADHD, is similar to what people on the Autism Spectrum experience, but to a lesser extent.

[Tiva]

Originally Posted by Lucid:

That catbutt is basically how you know your cat truly loves you.

Lucid I thought that was bedtime toe bites….

[Espy]

Originally Posted by Coda

This filtering process allows us to focus our attention and not worry about having to process all of the sensory input that our brains are receiving. We can work with the important stuff we perceive instead of getting overloaded by absolutely everything happening around us. (There are various disorders that interfere with this process -- ADHD is one of them; the reason ADHD sufferers have difficulty focusing is because this filtering doesn't do a good enough job and things that most people could ignore instead get flagged by your subconscious as needing to be addressed.)

Ahahahahahaha. Haaaaahahahaha. I can see how that also applies to your brain's constant "need" to attempt to multitask -- stuff at the back of your brain doesn't really stay there, since your subconscious isn't good at ignoring it.

[Coda]

I thought you'd appreciate that, Espy. It also explains why I feel more productive when I AM multitasking, because I can satisfy that craving for bouncing back and forth without getting sidetracked by things that I DON'T want to be doing.