Mental object maps...
After all the fun of test driving various vehicles last week, and having a quick pootle on my bike, I was struck by the fact that my brain seems to have what I can only term as limited mental object mapping capability.
For example, it's taken me quite some time to get my head around the fact that motorbike does not equal car. You may well think "well, duh", but somewhere deep in my brain was a very strong connection that anything with an engine = my car. Which is fine, if I happen to be driving another old-school diesel, but not so good on a single cylinder 125cc motorbike.
I suppose that's why it took so long for my brain to get the hang of all the controls of a bike; it was completely alien, and I needed to create the gap in my brain for it to be able to take it all in. But now I've got the hang of the controls, the next problem my brain has to deal with is the fact that my own 125cc bike and the training school's 125cc bikes are subtly different. The footpegs, gear levers and rear brake levers aren't in the same places; the engines feel different; the handlebars vary. I'll sit on the bike, go to find the rear brake lever where my brain is telling me it should be, and it isn't. It's like my brain, at the moment, only has the mental space for one motorbike at a time, and any variation completely throws me. To be honest, I'm sort of thinking the more I get used to these variations, the better, but it's still weird.
Similarly with cars. I haven't driven the Octavia for a few months, so my brain has defaulted to car = Arosa. When we went to test drive a Citroen Berlingo, on roads I wasn't familiar with, my brain really struggled. I didn't get on with the car at all (I didn't get on that well with the road, either). I didn't particularly like it, and didn't particularly enjoy it.
However, when I test drove a Nemo, it was a close enough fit to the Arosa (in terms of size and feel) for me to feel much more at home behind the wheel, and the fact that I was on the roads that I'd just driven also helped.
Then, when we had a go in the Peugeot equivalent of the Berlingo the next day (to see if the Berlingo's notchy gearshift was particular to that car, or a general thing), it was completely different. One, I was on roads that I knew, so my brain didn't have to think about that; and secondly, because I'd recently driven the Berlingo, my brain went "ah, we've done this before."
I came away from the Berlingo test drive completely unconvinced that I could get on with it; I came away from the Peugeot one thinking that actually, I could, and even having enjoyed it. Even though they were the same vehicle (down to engine spec as well). And it wasn't that the Peugeot actually felt any different to drive; in some respects, with hindsight, the Berlingo actually drove better thanks to being that bit more run-in. The difference in perception was purely down to my brain.
I was wondering if it was a male/female brain thing, as Dave can happily drive whatever he's given, but I'm not convinced. I think it may just be a me thing.
Still, it shows the utter subjectivity of our perceptions, doesn't it?
For example, it's taken me quite some time to get my head around the fact that motorbike does not equal car. You may well think "well, duh", but somewhere deep in my brain was a very strong connection that anything with an engine = my car. Which is fine, if I happen to be driving another old-school diesel, but not so good on a single cylinder 125cc motorbike.
I suppose that's why it took so long for my brain to get the hang of all the controls of a bike; it was completely alien, and I needed to create the gap in my brain for it to be able to take it all in. But now I've got the hang of the controls, the next problem my brain has to deal with is the fact that my own 125cc bike and the training school's 125cc bikes are subtly different. The footpegs, gear levers and rear brake levers aren't in the same places; the engines feel different; the handlebars vary. I'll sit on the bike, go to find the rear brake lever where my brain is telling me it should be, and it isn't. It's like my brain, at the moment, only has the mental space for one motorbike at a time, and any variation completely throws me. To be honest, I'm sort of thinking the more I get used to these variations, the better, but it's still weird.
Similarly with cars. I haven't driven the Octavia for a few months, so my brain has defaulted to car = Arosa. When we went to test drive a Citroen Berlingo, on roads I wasn't familiar with, my brain really struggled. I didn't get on with the car at all (I didn't get on that well with the road, either). I didn't particularly like it, and didn't particularly enjoy it.
However, when I test drove a Nemo, it was a close enough fit to the Arosa (in terms of size and feel) for me to feel much more at home behind the wheel, and the fact that I was on the roads that I'd just driven also helped.
Then, when we had a go in the Peugeot equivalent of the Berlingo the next day (to see if the Berlingo's notchy gearshift was particular to that car, or a general thing), it was completely different. One, I was on roads that I knew, so my brain didn't have to think about that; and secondly, because I'd recently driven the Berlingo, my brain went "ah, we've done this before."
I came away from the Berlingo test drive completely unconvinced that I could get on with it; I came away from the Peugeot one thinking that actually, I could, and even having enjoyed it. Even though they were the same vehicle (down to engine spec as well). And it wasn't that the Peugeot actually felt any different to drive; in some respects, with hindsight, the Berlingo actually drove better thanks to being that bit more run-in. The difference in perception was purely down to my brain.
I was wondering if it was a male/female brain thing, as Dave can happily drive whatever he's given, but I'm not convinced. I think it may just be a me thing.
Still, it shows the utter subjectivity of our perceptions, doesn't it?