Attention is a precious mental resource. Every day we are bombarded with information, decisions, distractions, and things we need to remember. What should I wear today? What should I make for breakfast? Did I lock the door? Can I just hide under the duvet and play Pokémon until June? Even though we can often instinctively—and seemingly instantly—answer these questions, there’s a real cost incurred when doing so.
Examining attention lets us see just how much heavy lifting our brain does for us. Through a process of selective ...