Why do we fiddle with our hands when we’re trying to remember something
In: Biology
Staying absolutely still is not natural for us. When we are absolutely still and not moving, we can’t take our attention off from the fact we need to not move. It is the unnaturalness of stillness that draws our entire attention to it.
When we are trying to recall, we need our attention to not waver to unnecessary things. Staying still will be counterintuitive in this situation then. So, moving hands, swaying and pacing back and forth helps us to give our muscles something to do, while our attention can be paid to the thoughts.
The action given to hands and feet can’t be too complex because performing them requires attention, and that defeats the whole purpose of giving any motion action to the hands and feet in the first place.
We are trying to do something natural.
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