To See or Not to See

I was driving on the boulevard, wide with its tree-lined median, nearing the stop.  A lawncare truck approached on the cross street from the right as I thought about who would arrive at the sign first.  It's a typical driving process gauging speed, distance, and acceleration.   I glanced to the left and stopped a split second before the truck found the mark.  Having the right of way, I started forward.  A silver gray SUV emerged, like a ghost, at my left in the intersection.  The vehicle front was at the far edge of the median, slowly shortening the distance between me and it.  I had not seen it.  I hit the brakes, but it was there, moving at my left, and I was in the way, blocking the intersection.  The only thing to do was to go as I  pressed down on the accelerator.

For those who think the road is littered with bad drivers, I can't say for sure, but considering the thousands of vehicles filling the lanes in a city on any given day, it only takes a few okay drivers to do something stupid for the other people on the road to encounter an irritating or reckless situation.  I know I've been stupid a few times and that moment at the stop sign stands firmly in my mind.  I didn't see the car on the left.  I glanced, but did not see.  I made a mistake that could have been extremely dangerous for everyone, my wife, me, and the other driver.  In a high speed collision, my car could have even been pushed into the lawncare truck as its driver helplessly looked on.

Why?  I ask myself.  I was focused on the truck and determining who would arrive at the stop sign first that I didn't examine thoroughly my surroundings.  Using Feuerstein's Cognitive Functions as a guide, I can easily conclude that my input phase failed me.  I glanced quickly and did not see and this was a moment of deficient thinking by me.

I was impulsive.  I looked but didn't search.  This is a problem at that particular location because the median makes the boulevard and the intersection wide.  It's not a normal spot where the stop sign is directly to the left.  It's a distance away, so it's much easier to spot traffic approaching from the right, but not the other side.  You have to LOOK to the left.  Coupled with the SUV's color being silver gray and easy to blend into the road surface in the morning light, my quick glance did not see it.  

The whole event is funny (in a dangerously sad and comical way), because I'm a trained FIE instructor and the first two listed cognitive functions are Clear Perception and Systematic Exploration, and I failed to apply them in the situation.  I also probably failed in the Need for Completeness in Data Gathering.  My lack of thought is troubling because the moment could have been tragic.  No one wants to be in a car collision.  This one in particular would have happened on my side putting me at extra risk.  Though with the distance of the intersection, our two vehicles never grew that close to one another, so I received a lesson about perception without having to pay a high cost.

Since the incident, I have been paying extra attention at that intersection, particularly the stop at the far side.  I also have been focusing more at all stops.  Practice doesn't make perfect, but it certainly helps make sure that the right neurons are firing at the right time.   Not seeing cars on the road is a dangerous proposition.

The incident also has been a reminder of how we never escape using our brains and how we need our thought processes to be working well.  Use of the cognitive functions is needed by us our entire lives, and thought is not simply a matter of reasoning from A to B or tabulating the numbers.  It includes being sure your data, your input, is good.  In this case, being sure that I am seeing every vehicle on the road is important.  Being lackadaisical in my scan of my surroundings is not something I want to repeat in the near or distant future.  When driving, I need to look systematically and see completely and clearly.  I don't want any more large ghosts appearing on the road.

Cognitive Functions

In the upcoming weeks, I'm planning to post thoughts about the cognitive functions, labels attached to our various thought processes.  These allow us the chance to examine, discuss, and modify how we think.  While there are many ways to dissect and label our cognitive processes, one of the insightful approaches that Dr. Reuven Feuerstein used was to break our thinking into 3 phases:

1. Input
2. Elaboration
3. Output

Input is what you would presume.  It's how we gather information.  

Elaboration is the phase which we would often described as "that's thinking!".  It's where we process and work through information.

Output is the final phrase, the expression.  This is often overlooked, but you have to say and do what you mean, precisely and accurately.

I like this breakdown because it encompasses more than just pondering things inside your brain.  You have to gather information and express your conclusions well.  So with this mind, I plan to look closely at one or two cognitive functions at a time, flesh out some of their details, and offer my thoughts about them.  I hope this will open some paths for understanding how the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment works and why this is important for everyone's daily life.

Making an Error

If you go driving (if you don't drive, think of yourself riding a bicycle or hiking) and become lost, you would probably not consider it a good thing. You wasted all that time and you're still not at your destination. Similarly, in a class, if a student does a problem incorrectly, you probably would not consider it a good thing, especially if you are that student. You might not know exactly what is wrong and you still have to finish the problem and find the answer. However, just simply thinking this is WRONG, sets everything in that moment: you're lost and wrong.

But now let's say that you are back in that car lost along a road curving half-way up a mountainside. At the top, snow blazes with gold from the setting sun. If the pavement leads to a dead end then, would you think how terrible it was to be lost? Probably not, because the sight of the mountain top was delightful to see. Instead of being completely dejected, you likely would just turn around and see where the mistake was made.

Of course, the scene might not be so pretty. Not all wrong turns lead to beautiful sunsets and some mistakes can be dangerous. Perhaps your wrong turn leads you to a dirty abandoned industrial site with its straight edges and gray smokestacks. You are lost and are probably feeling dejected. Still somewhere along the way, you turned right at the McDonald's when...

The etymology of the word error leads back to the Latin word errāre which means "to wander". There is usually nothing wrong in wandering. New paths can only be formed if someone explores; this can happen intentionally or accidentally. In 1956, two graduate students discovered the B-cell, part of the immune system, when one of them, Timothy Chang was trying to show antibody development in chickens, but couldn't. Obviously, some type of mistake was made. When he and his fellow graduate student Bruce Glick looked more closely, they determined why the chickens didn't produce antibodies; this led to an important medical discovery.

Still wandering probably isn't going to lead you to your destination, but if you can see something along the road that is beautiful, you have experienced something. Even if you don't see anything of value along the way, you can still backtrack and figure out the mistake: you should have made a left at the McDonald's and not the right. Think about it for a moment. Realizing this has value too. Knowing why you turned right instead of left can help you. Read the directions: Drive 2 miles, and at the Wendy's, turn ______. Because of your awareness of your past error, you will have more focus on the word following turn and what you can do to aid your memory. That focus on the direction will help you go the correct way this time and in the future. You have truly learned and that is real education: understanding yourself and making the most of a situation so that you can more easily achieve your goals in the future.

I know I should turn left at the Burger King, but what happens if I go straight instead?

You now can explore more usefully too because you have a sense of direction. Inventor Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Think about this the next time when you or someone else makes an error.