I'm only going to speak in animated gifs in this thread. ;)

Miramon · 2011-09-09T12:08:58.000Z

Jasper Phillips:

Basically the reflex action kicks in quick and non-conscious, a bit faster than you’d ordinarily react (comes from the spine rather than the brain I guess?), and then you get one shot (at normal reaction speed) to interrupt it.

Oo, a chance to be pedantic! The spine doesn’t learn complex behavior like that. All “instinctive” reactions pass through the brain. Possibly some basic reflexes like toe curling or knee kicking don’t require processing, but taking a swing at someone or ducking to avoid a flying object requires a brain (or at least half a brain, as the case may be).

Scotch_Lufkin · 2011-09-09T12:27:39.000Z

Jasper Phillips:

Random tangent, ahoy!

Snappy reflexes aren’t that uncommon; I’ve never actually clocked someone surprising me before, but I’ve caught myself in the windup. Pretty hard to trigger though, as you have to truly be surprised; cars backfiring are the most common trigger for me. Surprise snowman might do the trick though. ;-)

Basically the reflex action kicks in quick and non-conscious, a bit faster than you’d ordinarily react (comes from the spine rather than the brain I guess?), and then you get one shot (at normal reaction speed) to interrupt it.

You can train the reaction a bit too. I’ve gotten mine over to a quick step and a parry, which is pretty funny when I’m not fencing. Saved my ass in a match once though when I mistakenly stopped after hearing the score buzzer on another strip. :-)

Fun story (and true!) - once my Mom (I was about 14 or 15) sent me into the basement for something, knowing the basement freaked me out. I always RAN back up the stairs (watching Evil Dead 2 didn’t help this fear, either) and in this case, I ran up and opened the door bursting to get out, and there was my Mom wearing a full, all-rubber halloween mask she had found in the attic a few hours before, jumping out and screaching for effect.

My first impulse was (thankfully) not to fall backwards down the stairs, but in fact to PUNCH THIS CREATURE IN THE FACE. She went down like a sack of potatoes just as I realized I had just jacked my mom in the head.

We still laugh about it, but seeing that guy and that snowman, I couldn’t help but remember that story.

Jasper_Phillips · 2011-09-09T12:30:08.000Z

Miramon:

Oo, a chance to be pedantic! The spine doesn’t learn complex behavior like that. All “instinctive” reactions pass through the brain. Possibly some basic reflexes like toe curling or knee kicking don’t require processing, but taking a swing at someone or ducking to avoid a flying object requires a brain (or at least half a brain, as the case may be).

Yeah, I’ve heard that. It doesn’t match my experience. Maybe I’m just fooling myself, but I suspect the issue is more complex than that.

Miramon · 2011-09-09T13:11:03.000Z

Jasper Phillips:

Yeah, I’ve heard that. It doesn’t match my experience. Maybe I’m just fooling myself, but I suspect the issue is more complex than that.

It doesn’t match your experience? How so? I didn’t say you are secretly conscious of some random instinctive reaction. But any complex activity (like taking a swing at a snowman) must be directed by the brain. This is clear when you consider that:

a) it’s your brain that processes visual information from the retina. Obviously there’s no direct connection between the spine and eyes. A lot of complex computation had to take place before the dumbass in the gif was aware that the snowman had moved, much less where its head was to swing at.

b) It’s your brain that handles kinesthesia and knows where your limbs are and what the muscles are doing. You can’t duck away from an object or swing towards it unless your brain knows where your head or hand is and where the object is.

c) It’s your brain that computes approximate solutions to the slew of simultaneous equations required to coordinate any kind of muscular activity for any directed real-world purpose.

RichVR · 2011-09-09T14:15:08.000Z

A friend of mine, a Viet Nam vet. Has to be awakened by a touch on his foot. Even then, you jump back. Anything else may leave you injured. Just a bit of anecdata. That his wife learned the hard way.

RichVR · 2011-09-09T14:18:33.000Z

Dave_Perkins · 2011-09-09T14:30:27.000Z

A thrown cat.

RichVR · 2011-09-09T14:36:34.000Z

WUT?

BrianRubin · 2011-09-09T14:58:55.000Z

TimElhajj:

Ha, ha! She’s probably NOT a Philly girl. I say this having grown up in Pennsylvania.

Agreed 1,000%

Miramon · 2011-09-09T15:11:23.000Z

RichVR:

A friend of mine, a Viet Nam vet. Has to be awakened by a touch on his foot. Even then, you jump back. Anything else may leave you injured. Just a bit of anecdata. That his wife learned the hard way.

I read somewhere that marines (in some unit and time period) were excused from any crimes committed in the first minute after waking up.

squirrel · 2011-09-09T17:10:22.000Z

Bill Dungsroman:

Whilst I mourn for the boar, I must say: RHINOS ARE FUCKIN’ AWESOME!

Theodore_Rex_DX · 2011-09-09T17:25:12.000Z

RichVR:

WUT?

it’s always kitty o’clock

Demon_G_Sides · 2011-09-09T18:18:33.000Z

Bill Dungsroman:

That boar had some serious hangtime on it.

MattKeil · 2011-09-09T19:45:26.000Z

Demon_G_Sides · 2011-09-09T20:17:02.000Z

Demon_G_Sides · 2011-09-09T20:19:49.000Z

God I can’t get enough of these.

RichVR · 2011-09-09T21:19:22.000Z

RichVR · 2011-09-09T21:20:36.000Z

RichVR · 2011-09-09T21:21:47.000Z

Yeah. I love these.

Gendal · 2011-09-09T21:25:41.000Z

Demon G Sides:

That boar had some serious hangtime on it.

I particularly like how the falling boar went high enough for it’s reentry to startle the rhino.