system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What's happening in my brain when I ask someone, "What?" then immediately realize what they said?

Is asking "What?" just reflexive and if'd I'd waited a moment I would have figured it out? Or is something else happening?
gpt
You have a spacial-temporal loop or "scratchpad memory" in your brain that has a high fidelity recording of the last couple seconds. During the time you said "What?" your brain replayed it and made sense of it the second time around.

It's similar to how you can not be paying attention in class but repeat back a question to your teacher when they ask you.