mnoy

Mnoy is a fictional term used in thought experiments and speculative discussions in cognitive science and linguistics to refer to a micro-interval of mental processing that combines recall of a memory with anticipation of a future thought. In these contexts, a mnoy represents a single cognitive moment during which a person partially retrieves information from the past while projecting potential outcomes or plans for the near future. The concept is not part of established psychology or neuroscience and has no formal definition in peer‑reviewed literature.

Origin and usage of the word are unclear; mnoy appears primarily in online glossaries, speculative fiction communities, and analytical narratives that explore models of time perception and consciousness. The etymology is often treated as uncertain, with suggestions linking mnoy to memory-related roots or to the idea of the present moment ("now"), but no consensus exists.

In practice, mnoy is used as a heuristic device rather than a tested construct. In fiction, it serves as a plot device to convey the intensity of rapid thought or the sensation of time narrowing during focused tasks. In theoretical discussions, it functions as a hypothetical unit to illustrate how cognitive events might be discretized and measured, if such discretization were meaningful.

Because mnoy lacks empirical operationalization, it remains a speculative concept with limited acceptance. It should not be taken as an established term in cognitive science.

See also memory, time perception, cognitive science, linguistic neologisms.