Talk:Autopilot/@comment-28194995-20160419173445

Amazing pasta, seriously this is the only believable one I have read. I just had a few quick things I wanted to say (spoilers).

First: If you have a child in the back of your car, take off one shoe and put it back there with the kid. Your brain might let you forget the kid, but it won't let you leave the car without a shoe. Now when you remember to put your shoe back on, you remember you have a kid in the back seat. It sounds really simple but this could save lives, please pass it on.

Second: I just want to provide a little more authenticity to this story for those who think it is, "illogical." Autopilot is actually a very real thing, but in psychology we call it system 1. System 1 is basically your brain deciding what you need to focus on, and what you don't. We enter system 1 all the time. Think about shampooing your hair. You get your hair wet, lather, and rinse, right? Do you ever smell your shampoo to make sure no one put nair in it? Probably not (unless you have siblings that have done that before). If you made a conscious effort to smell your shampoo this morning, congratulations you switched to system 2. System 2 basically occurs anytime you need to focus on something and you can't just autopilot. System 2 is like taking a test. A good indication you're using system 1 is if you can think about something else while simultaneously doing another task. Our brain uses system 1 because if you had to give your full attention to everything, you would become mentally exhausted pretty quickly.

Tl;Dr: Read the first part at least. The second part is about how your brain tries to save you from focusing on things you don't need to (system 1, autopilot).