Anna, it sounds like you're talking about the omniscient POV -- where the reader can peek into any character's head at any time. It used to be a lot more popular... see Georgette Heyer for an example of head-hopping! <g> I think of it as sort of the writing equivalent of a TV camera -- instead of reading an actor's face and body language, you're reading the description of it. And the camera shows you every character.

PJ

"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."

--Stardust, Caroline K