What does the gear select damper do?

[CrankyOldMan]

I'm almost done rebuilding my Frankenstein gearbox, and it occurred to me that I don't really understand what the damper on the gear select shaft does. I mean, I can piece together that it dampens something, but is it a NVH reduction device or does it actually do some work when changing gears? The Celica and Matrix gearboxes had them, but they were very different. I.e. one was somewhat-asymmetrical and the other was completely-asymmetrical, whereas the Yaris/xB has an almost-symmetrical damper.

If it's only there to provide resistance at the shifter--increased shift effort--then I may just run without it!