Chapter 2: Attention and Effort
Some exercises for S2
· Add-1, Add-3
· Record the dilating pupils.
About Pupils
· Psychologist Eckhard Hess described the pupil of the eye as a window to the soul. He also wrote of belladonna.
· They appear dilated in the attractive pictures and constricted in the not so attractive pictures.
· They are sensitive indicators of mental effort. The response to mental effort is distinct from emotional arousal.
· The shape in which they respond is an inverted V, where it reaches an almost intolerable peak and then it relaxes. In this case, you either solved the problem or gave up on it.
Back to the Invisible Gorilla
· Failures of detection followed the same inverted-V pattern as the dilating pupil.
· You may focus more on the slopes than on the peak.
The relation between pupils and the systems
· The pupils offer an index of the current rate at which mental energy is used.
· We decide what to do, but we have limited control over the effort of doing it, like the electric current in a house.
· S2, when mentally overload, is selective and precise. It protects the most important activity. “Spare capacity” is allocated second by second to other tasks.
· S1 takes over in emergencies and assigns total priority to self-protective actions.
· S2 is the only one that can follow rules, compare objects on several attributes, and make deliberate choices between options. It is also capable of adapting “task sets” (simultaneous tasks).
· S1 detects simple relations and excels at integrating information about one thing.
Smart Facts
· In the first 5 seconds (of Add-3), the pupil dilates by about 50% of its original area and heart rate increases by about 7 beats per minute. This is as hard as people can work – they give up if more is asked of them.
· “Law of least effort”: In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and costs. Laziness is built deep into our nature.
· The prefrontal area of the brain is involved in operations that we associate with intelligence.
· The drivers of effort can be,
o switching repeatedly between two demanding tasks
o retaining
o control attention
o time pressure
· Like a juggler with several balls in the air, you cannot afford to slow down; the rate at which material decays in memory forces the pace, driving you to refresh and rehearse information before it is lost.
· We cover long distances by taking our tie and conduct our mental lives by the law of least effort.
· Add-1, Add-3
· Record the dilating pupils.
About Pupils
· Psychologist Eckhard Hess described the pupil of the eye as a window to the soul. He also wrote of belladonna.
· They appear dilated in the attractive pictures and constricted in the not so attractive pictures.
· They are sensitive indicators of mental effort. The response to mental effort is distinct from emotional arousal.
· The shape in which they respond is an inverted V, where it reaches an almost intolerable peak and then it relaxes. In this case, you either solved the problem or gave up on it.
Back to the Invisible Gorilla
· Failures of detection followed the same inverted-V pattern as the dilating pupil.
· You may focus more on the slopes than on the peak.
The relation between pupils and the systems
· The pupils offer an index of the current rate at which mental energy is used.
· We decide what to do, but we have limited control over the effort of doing it, like the electric current in a house.
· S2, when mentally overload, is selective and precise. It protects the most important activity. “Spare capacity” is allocated second by second to other tasks.
· S1 takes over in emergencies and assigns total priority to self-protective actions.
· S2 is the only one that can follow rules, compare objects on several attributes, and make deliberate choices between options. It is also capable of adapting “task sets” (simultaneous tasks).
· S1 detects simple relations and excels at integrating information about one thing.
Smart Facts
· In the first 5 seconds (of Add-3), the pupil dilates by about 50% of its original area and heart rate increases by about 7 beats per minute. This is as hard as people can work – they give up if more is asked of them.
· “Law of least effort”: In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and costs. Laziness is built deep into our nature.
· The prefrontal area of the brain is involved in operations that we associate with intelligence.
· The drivers of effort can be,
o switching repeatedly between two demanding tasks
o retaining
o control attention
o time pressure
· Like a juggler with several balls in the air, you cannot afford to slow down; the rate at which material decays in memory forces the pace, driving you to refresh and rehearse information before it is lost.
· We cover long distances by taking our tie and conduct our mental lives by the law of least effort.