Does the brain shift gears for a few suspended seconds and perceive the world at half speed, or is some other mechanism at work?
Then there was Bullitt, unfairly remembered solely for its car chase rather than its skidding cinematography and a performance of such radical inexpressivity from Steve McQueen that you can almost see his brain shifting gears.
Rather, he says, when the ant runs a certain distance and direction, the brain switches gears from running home to fighting.
Shearer kicked his football brain into gear.
My brain is geared toward reading — and the answer, for me, clearly, is large-print books.
Recently the machine-metaphor has found expression in the writing of Haruki Murakami, in Kafka on the Shore: "I crunch along the gravel, the mercury light beating down on me, and try to get my brain in gear.
"My mantra is: put your brain into gear and if you can add to what's on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up," he has often said.
Are you frankly terrified at the report last week, showing mental acuity can start to deteriorate from the age of 45? Then get your brain in gear as psychologist and memory expert Charles Fernyhough, has been live online today answering readers' questions and sharing his advice.
"It's almost as if one part of their brain is geared towards a 'buy and hold' mentality," he says, "while another part of their brain is excited by trading puts on Yahoo! or buying Red Hat, watching it soar and taking a profit in the short run".
