The predictive mind

[denimini]

I just heard an interesting interview on the wireless recently. It is about the brain working predictively for so much of the time and I think helps explain why there is sometimes such a reaction to men wearing skirts (like Moonshadow's neighbour dropping his icecream, which made me laugh). It is something called a brain function prediction error.
So someone seeing a man approaching and then suddenly notice that he is wearing a skirt and not pants could set off such a situation. They may be quite open minded but the unexpected revellation causes an involuntary reaction until they reappraise the situation.

So for people who gawk, drop their jaw (or icecream), you can say:
"Don't worry, you are suffering a brain function prediction error and will get over it soon."

https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podca ... 201011.mp3

[greenboots]

Even the best of us can fall prey to this phenomenon. We recently met up with friends. Their elder son had returned to his university town to meet some friends. On the journey home he made a video call to his mum and asked for a brief chat with us. He had bought a new t-shirt : a kind of black and white check with black piping around neck and sleeve holes. I have only ever seen this style on a female or in the ladies department. Although I would not describe it as feminine, it jarred with me for the whole conversation. Yet I have walked about freely in the same city in "ladies" skirts, and occasionally boots.

[Grok]

Members are attuned to MIS because that is our particular interest, but even we can experience cognitive dissonance.

[partlyscot]

The most glaring example of this I have experienced was in the checkout line of a store. The guy in front of me happened to turn round enough to see my skirt. I recognized a stunned look on his face. He turned back to the front. Then he looked back, and his face again looked stunned, or shocked. This pattern went of several repetitions. I almost seemed to me I could hear his thought process, "A man in a skirt?! Bzzzt! Can't be, turn away, reset!"