Filtered dossier

attention

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  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0195

    The reason nostalgia sharpens between sixteen and twenty-five

    Ask an older adult for vivid memories and the harvest peaks in adolescence and early adulthood. The bump tracks identity formation, not the events themselves.

    Master
    The hidden part #0195

    The archive is densest where the life story was being drafted. Later years are lived by someone who already has the answers.

    Open file
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    Attention & Memory Entry #0194

    Why the tip of the tongue holds the shape of a word

    You can know a word begins with a hard sound, has three syllables and is foreign, and still not produce it. Knowing a thing and reaching it are separate operations.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0194

    A forgotten word arrives with a description of itself. That description is proof the record survives and only the route to it failed.

    Open file
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    Attention & Memory Entry #0193

    The reason a story is easier to remember than a list

    A list gives memory nothing to hold on to. A story supplies causal links, and each link is a route back to the item on the other side of it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0193

    A list stores items. A story stores routes between items, and a route can be walked from either end.

    Open file
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    Attention & Memory Entry #0192

    Why breaking a habit needs a changed context

    A habit is not stored inside the intention. It is stored in the pairing between a setting and a response, which is why the setting has a vote.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0192

    The habit is not held in your resolve. It is held in the room, which is why moving house works better than trying harder.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0191

    The reason you miss the obvious when counting something else

    Attention is not a window that shows whatever stands in front of it. It is a budget, and anything the current task did not request goes unpaid.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0191

    Attention is a budget, not a window. What the task did not request goes unpaid, and the unpaid item leaves no receipt of having been missed.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #1104

    Why a glance at your phone costs more than the glance

    Attention residue explains why a glance at your phone costs more than the glance: part of your mind stays on the task you left behind.

    Adept
    The hidden part #1104

    The cost of an interruption is not the minute it takes; it is the part of you that stays behind.

    Open file
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    Attention & Memory Entry #1103

    Why a loud noise warps the timing of what follows

    Temporal recalibration explains why a loud noise warps the timing of what follows: the brain retunes when later sounds seem to occur.

    Adept
    The hidden part #1103

    You do not perceive when a sound happened; you perceive it against a clock that the last few minutes have reset.

    Open file
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    Attention & Memory Entry #1102

    Why a sudden bright flash blinds you to the next one

    The attentional blink is why a sudden bright flash blinds you to the next one: after spotting a first target, the mind is briefly shut to a second.

    Novice
    The hidden part #1102

    Finding one thing briefly closes the door on the next; the second target is not faint, it is unrecorded.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #1101

    Why you go deaf to a sound you make yourself

    Sensory attenuation explains why a sound you make yourself seems quieter than the same sound from someone else: the brain predicts and cancels it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #1101

    You do not hear your own footsteps; you hear the world minus a prediction of your own footsteps.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Spatial Design Entry #1092

    Why a shop varies its ceiling height between sections

    A low ceiling narrows focus for detailed browsing while a high one broadens it for discovery, so the shop matches cognition to the task each zone demands.

    Adept
    The hidden part #1092

    The low ceiling says look closely — the high one says look everywhere, and the shop puts each one where its command is most profitable.

    Open file