Automation has today penetrated nearly every aspect of our lives. Most of us now drive cars equipped with computers that automatically engage the brakes and reduce transmission power, often so subtly we don't notice the vehicle has anticipated our tendency to over-correct. We work in offices where customers are routed to departments via phone systems, emails are automatically sent when we're away from our desks and bank accounts are instantaneously hedged against currency fluctuations. We communicate with smartphones that finish our words.
But even without technology's help, all humans rely on cognitive automations, known as heuristics, that allow us to multitask. Mental automation lets us choose, almost subconsciously, what to pay attention to and what to ignore. These automations have made factories safer, offices more efficient, cars less accident-prone and economies more stable. There have been more gains in the past 50 years than in two previous centuries combined, much of it made possible by automation.
But as automation becomes more common, the risk that our attention spans will fail has risen. Studies show errors are more likely when people are forced to toggle between automaticity and focus. In the age of automation, knowing how to manage your focus is more critical than ever. The reliance on automation can result in an increase in cases known as "cognitive tunnelling" - a glitch that occurs when our brains are forced to transition abruptly from relaxed to panicked attention.
"You can think about your brain's attention span like a spotlight that can go wide and diffused, or tight and focused," says David Strayer, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Utah. When we allow automated systems, such as computers or autopilots, to pay attention for us, our brains dim that spotlight and allow it to swing wherever it wants, helping us subconsciously to control stress levels, meaning we don't have to constantly monitor our environment. "But then, bam! Some kind of emergency happens and the spotlight in your head has to ramp up all of a sudden and, at first, it doesn't know where to shine."
Cognitive tunnelling can cause people to become overly focused on what is in front of their eyes or become preoccupied with immediate tasks. Once in a cognitive tunnel, we lose our ability to direct our focus. Instead, we latch on to the easiest and most obvious stimulus, often at the cost of common sense. "These technologies are supposed to make driving safer...but it also makes reactive thinking easier, so when the unexpected happens you'll react with practised, habitual responses," says Strayer. "Instead of thinking, you react, and if it's not the correct response, bad things happen."
An example of such behaviour led to the fatal crash of the Air France Flight 447 on June 1, 2009. A pilot was shaken from his reverie when alarms sounded after the plane's pitot tubes - which measure airspeed by detecting the force of air flowing into them - became clogged with ice crystals. This set off a series of events which were compounded by the pilot's cognitive tunnelling, focusing on what he perceived to be the immediate solution and neglecting his surroundings which were presenting all the information necessary to right the plane.
A means of combating such misplaced focus is through creating mental models. Understanding how people build mental models has become one of the most important topics in cognitive psychology. All people rely on mental models to some degree. We all tell ourselves stories about how the world works, whether we realise we're doing it or not.
So what's the solution? If you want to do a better job of paying attention to what really matters, of not getting overwhelmed and distracted by the constant flow of emails, conversations and interruptions that are part of everyday life, get into the habit of telling yourself stories. Narrate your life as it's occurring, and then, when your boss suddenly asks you a question, or when an urgent note arrives and you have only minutes to reply, the spotlight inside your head will be ready to shine the right way.
To become productive, we must take control of our attention; we must build mental models that put us in charge. When you're driving to work, force yourself to envision your day. While you're sitting in a meeting or at lunch, describe to yourself what you're seeing and what it means. Find other people to hear your theories and challenge them. Get in a pattern of forcing yourself to anticipate what's next.
Charles Duhigg is author of Smarter Faster Better*(William Heinemann)*
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
