thread clash

[cellio]

When praying (which usually means when at services), I've noticed that there's a background thread that runs in my brain. While the foreground task is reciting the words in the siddur, the background thread is analyzing the words (ok, only some of the words) based on what I've learned so far of grammar. Sometimes I notice something new (oh, that's how that verb is put together!). This is good; direct application aids learning.

But... is there a way to prevent that thread from grabbing focus? Its job, most of the time, is to note things to come back to later, but sometimes it distracts me when I ought not be distracted. Like, say, when I'm leading services. I don't want to surpress it; I just want it to behave.

(Please tell me that other people's brains work this way too? Pretty much any time I'm doing something vaguely "intellectual", there are at least two things going on in my brain, the main activity and the "meta" level that's noticing how I'm processing that main activity.)

Comments

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

I think this happens particularly when you're a naturally analytical person who's learning a language. That is, it happened to me when I was learning Japanese--it was difficult to just sort of soak in the language without analysing every vaguely new thing for its internal structure, though I saw other people in the classes apparently doing something like that.
Of course, this isn't as much of a problem if your primary activity is learning the language rather than actually trying to use the language for something.