The Cognitive Vicissitudes of Twins

Plugging into what I was saying a few days ago about neurochemical signatures, today I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who has recently moved to Little Rock. She is the twin sister of another friend of mine who moved away a couple of years ago. We’ve hung out a few times now, and today she mentioned to me that I look at her like I know her well, when really I barely do. I had actually noticed this myself recently. In my brain, she moves inside her sister’s neurochemical pattern. I regard her with a set of unconscious assumptions because she fits the same visual and auditory data patterns that her sister created. I have to stop and remind myself that we don’t have a shared history together. That wasn’t her I went to see Amelie with; nor was that her on whose doorstep I left a Valentine’s Day flower. Yet my brain forgets that. She’s immediately an old friend even though I’ve only met her on a handful of occasions. This is weird for me; I can’t imagine how it must feel for her.