We Are Designed to Ignore Better
27 Sept 2021 · 0 min
0:16
In this brief spoken segment, the presenter explains a paradox of human attention: we are evolutionarily wired to instantly notice novel or different stimuli and focus on them in order to assess potential opportunities or threats. At the same time, our brains are also designed to habituate, causing us to ignore repeated or even louder stimuli—such as the sound of stamping or crunching leaves—once they become familiar. The speaker highlights this duality of rapid novelty detection paired with selective ignoring of what is deemed less relevant.
